


It Was Probably Fate

by Roseas_Alorei



Series: Destinystuck: An AU of Happenings Post-Sburb and Dorks Falling In  Love [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alpha Kids are Beta Kids' big siblings, Dreams about the game, Humanstuck, Multi, No memory of the game, Post-Sburb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3356903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roseas_Alorei/pseuds/Roseas_Alorei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert is a normal kid who goes to a normal school. All of his friends tell him they and their respective partners are destined for each other but he isn't convinced that fated love exists.<br/>Then to his school comes a certain new kid who just might change his mind -- or tries, at least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fated Love Does Not Exist!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which John meets an interesting boy.  
> or  
> In which Karkat meets the boy of his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late Valentines Day. Have the first chapter of a multi-chapter Johnkat fanfiction.

TT: John, I swear Kanaya and I were destined for each other. Even though we've only known for a few months, it feels like I have known her for years.   
I have never been happier.

TG: dude im serious terezi is the best shit that has ever happened in my life aside from you and rose and jade  
she is the hella jeff to my sweet bro the apple to my juice the rhythm to my rhyme  
id go on but im pretty sure you got the point  
i know im gonna sound really sappy when i say this but i think shes the one

GG: i mean it john! dave sprite is the love of my life!  
hes a lot like strider except he seems a lot deeper of a character and it feels like he's been through a lot and i just really want to make him as happy as i can! i bet he has it hard since the only family he has is his weird brother jaspers.   
not to be rude to jaspers of course! ive talked to him and hes a really nice guy too! he just wears frilly skirts with a tuxedo jacket.   
anyway dave sprite is the sweetest guy i know now that he has opened himself up a bit  
and i feel that  
i want to spend the rest of my life with him

Everyone around John had a special someone in their lives. Rose had Kanaya, Dave had Terezi, Jade had a guy named Dave Sprite, his sister Jane had Rose's sister Roxy and apparently Jade's brother Jake was with Dave's brother Dirk. Hell, even his own dad had something going on with Rose's mom. The reason why they hadn't married each other was the fact that their daughters were in love with each other as well. _  
_

His friends and family all said it was destiny, that their love must have been written in the stars. John didn't think so. He was certain that destined love didn't exist and the whole idea was ridiculous. It was probably because he was the only one who hadn't found his so called "other half."

Don't get him wrong. He was happy for all of them but really. True love. Did they _have_ to rub it in his face?

They all told him that he would find someone special too. He himself felt that he'd never find a person he'd want to spent his entire life with.

* * *

 A normal morning. John woke up to the "Morning, sleepy head!" -text message Jane sent him (she's in college nowadays), replied to it, took a quick shower, dressed up and went downstairs.

Dad waited for him in the kitchen with a healthy breakfast as usual: eggs and bacon with salad, toast, fruits, cereal and orange juice. There was also a chocolate-chip cookie even though Dad knew he wouldn't touch it. It was  _way_ too early for sweets.

"Good morning, son." 

"Morning, Dad."

He sat down and dug in to the eggs and bacon.

"I take it school is going well?"

"Yeah."

"How are your grades?"

"They're okay."

His dad smiled to him. "I'm proud of you son," he said like he always does.

"Thanks dad," John replied. "Paternal pride is the only thing I need to make it in life," he joked.

The response he got from Dad was a very dadly laugh. He laughed a bit himself and bit the delicious-looking red apple. It was filled with Tabasco!!! John let out a whine while his father laughed even harder. He gave him a glass of milk to help ease the burning.

"Well?" his father grinned smugly, "Wasn't that a nice way liven you up a bit?"

John wanted to raise his middle finger but he knew he couldn't do that to his dad. Instead he just muttered, "At least give me a warning next time or something."

Once John ate the rest of his breakfast, he grabbed his bag and lunch and went to school on the bus.

That was his usual morning routine. It was Monday so the first class he had was math, which was one of John's least favorite subjects. He was fairly good at it, but he didn't know what could be more boring than to sit still and think about Pythagoras' Theorem and what five times five squared subtracted from four hundred thirteen was. At least his math teacher Mrs. Paint was the best teacher and the kindest woman in the state. She didn't mind if you forgot your homework once in a while or exchanged a few words with the person next to you. She was so unlike her husband Mr. Slick, who was John's gym teacher and a real tyrant. If you did so much as even squeak he would take out his knife and threaten to stab you. No wonder there were so many rumors that he used to be the leader of a gang or something.

Mrs. Paint started calling out their names like she always did. John's name came quite early since his surname started with the letter 'E'. Mrs. Paint called out names in the alphabetic order until she was finally at the letter 'V', which was the last letter she'd have to call out because there was not a student in John's class who's surname began with the letter W or Z. Right after calling out the name of the Italian exchange student Valerio she glanced at the paper and then the class.

"Oh dear, is the new student absent?"

_New student?_

Right at that moment the door slammed wide-open like the legs of a prostitute and a loud voice shouted,

"I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING LATE; I OVERSLEPT!"

John's eyes widened. At the door frame stood a short boy in a black Nightwish-hoodie and grey sweatpants. His raven hair was an unruly mess and he had dark circles around his eyes that indicated he didn't get much sleep. They looked even darker than they probably were because of his almost snow-white skin. He was panting loudly and his cheeks shone scarlet as if he had just ran six blocks to class. 

What _really_ caught John's attention, though, was he boy's big, bright crimson eyes that were completely out of this world.

The most weird thing was that John felt like he had seen those eyes somewhere before.

* * *

Karkat Vantas had suffered from nightmares where he was a weird creature with skin grey like ash and candycorn horns. Sometimes his friends were also the same creatures but with different-shaped horns and some of them had wings. So many times he had seen liquids of various colors --that were apparently blood-- spill. So many times he had seen his friends go crazy or die. So many times he had seen the same things that he could barely sleep through the night and always groaned in agony when his father told him to go to sleep. The nightmares were so scary and distressing and most of the time they happened in a some sort of lab which was cold, dead, dark and colossal. Sometimes Karkat had to drag the guy, who was supposed to resemble his German friend Sollux, across those empty halls while he was terrified for his life that the guy, who was no doubt his Mexican friend Gamzee, would find and kill them both. Other times he would see the guy, who represented his Greek friend Eridan, shoot a white beam through his Hawaiian friend Feferi's chest, then do the same for his French friend Kanaya's abdomen. Usually not much later she would come back as a luminescent vampire of sorts and cut him in half with a chainsaw. Those types of dreams he would see every night since he was five. Of course at that age he didn't know who any of them were.

You can bet your undies he shat his pants when his online friends sent him pictures of themselves.

But some nights he would dream of watching through a computer screen at a planet what was like a huge chess board. There he would see the boy. The boy in ridiculous blue pajamas and a hood that was like a long sock.

He would fly through the equally blue skies and _look majestic as fuck._  

Every now and then he would see him in a bedroom wearing clothes that looked more or less normal yet most often he saw him in those pajamas. Peculiarly his age would change between 13 to 16 years old but he was still always be the most gorgeous person Karkat had ever laid his eyes on.

When he reached the age of puberty, he was scared how he wasn't interested in any of the girls in his school or even the boys. At that time his dreams suddenly changed.

Karkat started seeing less of the horror-bringing nightmares that made him want to puke and instead begun seeing completely new dreams of the blue boy who's name was John. In those dreams the taller boy would lock him in his embrace and let him bathe in his warmth. He'd kiss him senseless and tell him he loved him more than anything else in paradox space (whatever that meant). Sometimes they'd sit side by side, look at the stars and talk about dumb things such as what movies they like and stories from when they were little (whenever John told Karkat something about his past, he would tell the taller boy he had _already seen it_  for some reason). Those times John would tell him that when this all was over, he would find him and marry him, to which he would cry and make him swear he'd keep that promise. It was like straight from one of his cheesy rom-coms and _it was perfect_. It didn't take Karkat long to figure out he had the biggest crush on the windy boy and it made him bawl. It was just his shitty luck that  _his_ significant other  _didn't even exist_. Still his romantic heart made him hope that one day the boy would appear on his doorstep and take him to Vegas where they would get gay teen married. He gave up on that hope when he reached the age of fifteen.

When he turned sixteen he started to grow a bit bitter. From his eleven friends most started drifting away after the age of fourteen until he had only Terezi and Kanaya, but now even those two had grown distant when they had found themselves love they thought would last a lifetime. And he was still alone. Desperately in love with someone he'd never have.

And today on his first day in his new school he overslept therefore missing his bus and having to run all the way. He ran through the already empty halls, looking for the class he was supposed to have a lesson in. When he found the math class door, he slammed it wide open.

"I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING LATE; I OVERSLEPT!" was the only thing he got out of his mouth right when he locked gazes with  _literally the boy of his dreams_. It had to be him, since the resemblance was uncanny. He had the same messy pitch black hair, buckteeth and vibrant blue eyes that were framed by the same square-rimmed glasses. He even wore a blue hoodie with the same curly symbol, which was supposed to represent the wind, from the shirt of the blue pajamas Karkat had seen so many times it was unbelievable.

Karkat gawked at him until his thoughts were interrupted by a soft female voice, "That is alright Karkat. I just hope it isn't a habit of yours to be tardy."

He turned to the teacher. She was a short, chubby, pale woman with rosy cheeks who wore a pink bonnet over her short, wavy blonde hair and a turquoise shirt with a golden skirt and a light green belt. Her eyes were a warm brown color like dark chocolate and her mouth was in a gentle smile that was equally as warm. Karkat was suddenly glad it was her lesson he was late from. "N-no. I promise this won't happen again," he stuttered.

"Oh, don't be so stiff! I was only kidding," the woman giggled. She turned to her class and lifted her hand to point at him. "This is Karkat Vantas," she told them, "He has just moved here and I expect you all to be as nice to him as you can."

Karkat lifted his hand slightly to awkwardly wave at them. The boy, who looked like John, was staring at him with curiosity and he could feel his cheeks grow hot.

"Looks like there's an empty seat next to John. You can go sit there."

_Holy shit his name **was** John._ 

"Y-yes, Mrs..." Karkat cussed internally for not recalling her name.

"Mrs. Paint," she said with a smile. "Maybe you'll remember it this way: I am also an art teacher."

Karkat nodded, shuffled to the empty seat next John and sat down. Mrs. Paint smiled and began writing some notes on the board.

It didn't take long before John turned to him and said,

"You sure are lucky you were late from math class 'cause I doubt Mrs. Paint even puts a mark for being late. Now if it was gym class you were late from, Mr. Slick would have probably stabbed you."

Karkat winced as he suddenly remembered that one dream where a black figure stabbed him in the side. Then his mind went blank when he realized that this dork even  _sounded_ like his John.

"Can a teacher even do that?" he asked, trying to distract himself from strange thoughts.

John shrugged. "Mr. Slick can, maybe. He even carries a knife with him," he stated. "I'm John Egbert, by the way. It's nice to meet you Karkat," he said. A grin spread to his face as if he realized something. He chuckled.

"Beep Beep Meow."

Karkat's brows knit together and he scowled. He swatted at the smug asshole who responded with only a lighthearted laugh.

"Shut the fuck up, Eggbutt."

They both stiffened when they heard an _"ahem"_ coming from Mrs. Paint. "It's nice to see you're already making friends, Karkat, but I'd like both of you boys to focus on math now," she said. The rest of the class started snickering and Karkat dropped his head on his palms.

This was gonna be a  _long_ day.

* * *

Just as he had expected, Karkat couldn't concentrate on math at all.

He kept making secret sideways glances to the boy next to him. He examined his behavior, facial features, expressions... Everything.

And there was no doubt that this dude  _was_ the same John. Everything about him was exactly the same. Karkat was growing more and more restless at every second for he desperately wanted to talk to him and see if they had some sort of special connection. He noticed that the hope, that had died down when he was fifteen, started to grow into life inside him once again. The hope, that he'd finally have a romance of his own. The hope, that the boy he had dreamed of would carry him away to the sunset and  _oh god no don't think about those things you are in fucking school_. _  
_

Karkat sighed in relief when the bell finally rang. He needed to get away.

"Hey Karkat!"

Oh  _crap._   _  
_

Karkat took a deep breath and turned around. " _What,_ " he deadpanned.

"Aw c'mon don't be like that! You seem pretty cool and I wanna talk to you," John whined like a six-year-old kid.

Karkat lifted an eyebrow. "Me? Cool? Did you get dropped on your head when you were a baby, or something? I'm fairly sure you were because I am the fucking opposite of cool. In fact, I am so uncool that I probably come from a planet where being cool isn't even a thing. The planet's also probably called something lame, like, Alternia or some shit like that. Absolute negative coolness over here. That's how fucking uncool I am," he rambled.

And John just fucking  _laughed_. Man, he was so  ~~perfect~~ _moronic_.

"Wow, you kinda remind me of my friend Dave," he said.

"Please don't tell me this _'Dave'_ is some sort of irony-obsessed jerk with shades who thinks he's the coolest shit, even though he's not, and speaks in stupid metaphors that no-one understands."

"Actually that description was spot-on."

"Fucking shit, you have the worst friends."

"Haha, shut up."

They started talking about stuff like their interests and favorite movies and Karkat told John he had the most horrendous taste in cinema while the bucktoothed boy laughed at him for liking "chick-flicks". Karkat noted that the more he learned about this boy the more convinced he was of his suspicions. While ranting about the dumbest things, he tried to compose himself so he could ask him the question that was eating him.

"Hey, dickfondler?"

"Gross, dude. Yeah?"

"Do you think you've ever had a life before this one you're living right now? That you'd be a reincarnation of some other John who could, I don't know, fly?"

"I don't really think so. Even though it would be cool."

"Oh..." Karkat deflated. "Well, do you believe in fate?"

"Fate?" John laughed. "That definitely is a thing that isn't real. I'm really tired of all my friends yapping about how they've found the person who was destined for them and blah blah blah. I've never met anyone who I think I've known in some other life or anything dumb like that. Surely  _yo_ _u_  think that's stupid, right?"

Karkat felt himself shatter into a million pieces. Of  _fucking_ course. He was an idiot for even thinking that it wasn't all in his head. The universe just hated him so much that it threw a boy in his life who was straight from his dreams but didn't recognize him from anywhere just so that it could laugh at his agony. He was  _stupid, stupid, stupid_.

"Yeah. Stupid. Romantic, sure, but stupid as hell."

When Karkat finally got home from school after a long, emotionally draining day he went straight into his room, put on Sonata Arctica's " _My Selene_ " and let it blare as loud as possible so it would drown out his wails and then he  _cried until no tears could come out anymore_.

* * *

 John came home and started re-evaluating his entire life.

He had never thought of himself as a homosexual but these thoughts he was having about Karkat weren’t all that straight. He was extremely disturbed by how much of the shorter boy’s quirks and features he had noticed and learned by heart in just one day. He was also pretty sure he had never been this focused on making friends with someone before.

And the strangest thing was that John felt he had known Karkat for a lifetime. It was crazy!

“Welcome home, son! Dinner’s ready,” he suddenly heard Dad call from the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts.

He realized he was pretty hungry so he went to eat whatever Dad had made for dinner.

John was quite delighted to find that today’s supper was spaghetti, which was one of those foods John liked very much. He sat down and started scarfing up the delicious meal. He tried to focus on only eating and not Karkat and he was pretty sure his nervousness wouldn’t show up on his sauce-covered face.

“Son, is something wrong?” _Dammit. How did he know?_

John sat up straight and swallowed. He knew Dad didn’t like when he talked with his mouth full.

“What do you mean, Dad? Everything’s fine,” he said as convincingly as he could.

His father quirked an eyebrow. Darn. He should’ve known he can’t fool his old man. John sighed.

“I was just thinking about the new kid we got in our class. His name’s Karkat.”

“Is he cute?” Dad asked a coy smile forming on his face.

“Dad! I didn’t mean it like that!”

John’s father just laughed, while he started thinking.

He guessed that Karkat could be thought of as _cute_. He had very feminine features; a tiny button nose and no blemishes on his porcelain face, which was framed perfectly by his messy hair. His round cheeks were smooth and basically all his angles were soft and blunt. His hands were petite –- much like everything else in his body -– and they also looked very fleshy and nice. Everything about Karkat was fleshy and nice and cuddly, actually.

Karkat was also very expressive. His dark eyebrows weren’t thick but in a way they were strong and really good at disclosing the boy’s emotions. You could immediately tell what he was feeling just by looking at him and his pale skin made even the slightest blush very distinct. Karkat refused to smile, but John could instantaneously notice how the corners of his mouth would make small tugs upward at times when he said something stupid or funny to the shorter boy.

But the most amazing thing were his eyes. Those vivid crimson eyes that were nothing like he’d ever seen before. Sure, Dave had red eyes as well but compared to Karkat’s they were dull and uninteresting. Besides Dave was albino and Karkat was not.

Karkat’s eyes were like two big, round, shimmering rubies. Their brightness brought color to his pastel face and he had long, dark eyelashes that would make any girl jealous.

If he could, John would just gaze into Karkat’s eyes forever.

Okay, Karkat was not just _cute_. The word _cute_ didn’t bring him justice. The right word was _stunning_.

That did not mean he was gay for Karkat, though! He was just being honest!

When Dad started waving his hand before John’s face, he realized he had spaced out. He excused himself out of the dinner table and absconded into his room, spending the rest of the day there.

That day he decided that he would become best buddies with Karkat. No matter how long it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man poor Karkat.  
> NOTE: I know that it's Ms. Paint. I just call her Mrs. Paint because she's married.  
> I sorta made this in a hurry so I might come back later and edit this if I figure out how to word something better. I already have the story laid out in my head but some details need more thinking. In other words it might take some time for me to write the next chapter. Until then, sayonara.


	2. Movies, Popcorn And Dads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John invites Karkat for movies and gets to see the boy's home the first time in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ATTENTION: If the last time you read the first chapter was before the 21st of February, I'd advise you to read the end again because there is an added chunk of text added there. It appeared I had forgotten to add it there and only noticed later. Whoops! Live and learn!  
> I'd also like to note that it only took me this long to write the second chapter because I was busy and later there came the horrible thing called WRITER'S BLOCK (dun dun dunnnn)

Karkat had been in John’s school for a few months now and they had become good friends quicker than the bucktoothed boy had expected. The two were almost always spending time together in school, mostly because neither one had any other friends from there. In Karkat’s case it was probably due to the fact that everyone kept teasing him about his height, skin color and eyes. Karkat never swallowed without chewing, however, and always shot clever comebacks at them therefore winning the arguments in the end (or at least he always shut them up.) John still never failed to notice that people remarking Karkat about his “freaky” eyes really upset him.

John had also found out that Karkat was super intelligent. He practically _nailed_ every academic class and almost all of the teachers liked him. He wasn’t all that good at drawing but he got good grades from art as well, because Mrs. Paint thought his works were _abstract_ and _imaginative._ (John agreed wholeheartedly because Karkat’s drawings _were_ pretty creative. Like, how many people draw weird white monsters and mysterious-looking lands?)

At this point one would probably think that Karkat was the typical short and weak geek who was absolutely horrible at anything physical but no, Karkat was also really athletic. He was probably one of the fastest runners John had seen in his life (who would have thought someone with such short legs could run so fast?) and had great combat skills (John had seen him toss a jock once. The word didn’t spread because John was the only witness and no one would believe _him_ , the jock would _never_ voluntarily tell he lost to a _midget_ and Karkat just couldn’t care less.)

Karkat _did_ have a weird trait, which was that he sometimes asked and suggested odd ideas (mostly about alternate realities and whatnot) but John didn’t pay much mind because he thought it was just one of those more outlandish things about Karkat’s personality. Maybe he just didn’t understand the shorter boy because he wasn’t an intellectual like him. Whatever the case, usually the things he said were interesting and really got John to think. Admittedly some of them _did_ weird him out.

The most important thing, though, was that John found out Karkat truly was as big of a nerd about movies as he was (although of a different genre entirely.)

He thought it was about time he’d take their broship to the next level.

When the school day was over, he would ask Karkat to come to his house to watch movies.

…

Speaking of Karkat, where was he? He was never late from class -- overlooking his first day. John was torn between hoping he’d show up and wishing he was sick because Mr. Slick did not appreciate people who were late from his class.

To his dismay (or relief) Karkat showed up just in time to be late and as he had feared, Slick was having none of it.

“What do ya think you’re doing, not showing up in time, punk?” the dark man growled at the boy, taking his knife out.

“I- I…. Uh…” Karkat stuttered, terror evident in his now-even-paler face. For some reason he grabbed his side.

John knew he had to do something, so he quickly jogged to them.

“Mr. Slick, wait!”

Slick turned to him, looking clearly irritated.

“ _What is it, kid?_ ”

“Uhm… You know! According to the school rule, a student is only late if they arrive five minutes later than expected! And Karkat’s only three minutes late!”

“…What? Since when?” Mr. Slick was suddenly furious.

“Uh, since forever? Man, you really need to keep up with the times or people will think you’re old fashioned… Sir.” John answered with a small shrug of the shoulders.

Slick glared at him for a while with his good eye until he lowered his knife. He then walked away grumbling something under his breath. He seemed disappointed. Wow, he actually _wanted_ to stab someone? John tried to ignore that thought and turned to look at Karkat instead.

“I warned you about being late from Mr. Slick’s class, man! I told you dog!”

“Please do not refer to that _atrocity_ of a comic in my presence.”

John chuckled. He took a good look at Karkat and noticed that he looked awful. It was like he hadn’t slept in _days_.

“Wow, what happened? You look even more tired than usual.”

“It’s that obvious, huh?” Karkat muttered, rubbing his temple. He raised his head to look at John and explained, “It’s nothing, I… Just had a really bad nightmare and didn’t get a minute’s sleep.”

Karkat enhanced that statement with a shudder. Aw man, he must’ve had one hell of a nightmare.

“Thanks for saving my ass by the way. As crazy as it sounds, getting stabbed isn’t a very ideal situation.”

“No problem, bud.”

At that moment Mrs. Paint came in for she apparently had something she needed to tell Mr. Slick. They shared a chaste kiss and John could hear Slick ask about the “new rule” he had made up. Mrs. Paint looked at him with confusion and glanced at John (she was very aware of him having a knack with pranks), who mimed her a plea. She seemed to understand as she turned to look at her husband and said, “Yes. I thought you knew.”

Mr. Slick seemed very embarrassed at that moment and then Mrs. Paint proceeded to tell him what she was supposed to in the first place. John and Karkat both sighed in relief. That was _close._

* * *

The day went a bit too slow for John’s liking but in the end his awaited moment came. Karkat was at his locker when John walked to him.

“Hey Karkat!”

Karkat closed his locker door and turned to look at him.

“Yes, John, I am aware the Earth is not flat and I am utterly flabbergasted that it took you this long to realize that for your ‘revelation’ is common knowledge nowadays.”

Instead of being offended, John laughed because he knew that was Karkat’s version of a joke. Karkat allowed himself to give the taller boy a smug grin.

“But seriously, what is it?” he asked. John rubbed his neck with his hand, as he tried to think of a way to ask him without sounding awkward.

“Uh… I was just wondering if… You’d want to come to my place to and have a movie marathon with me? My dad thinks it’s alright and we even have soda and popcorn. Also we could totally watch your movies too! And even other genres that we’d find fun!”

Karkat thought about it for a moment.

“Sure, I guess… But that means we have to take a detour at my house,” he answered with dread rising on his face.

“That’s okay,” John said simply.

“I must warn you, though. I’m not sure how Crabdad will react.”

“Crabdad?”

Karkat was abruptly embarrassed. “I… I invented that nickname for my dad when I was a kid! And then it… Stuck,” he said with a scowl.

John giggled and Karkat flipped the bird at him.

“So, movies?”

“Yeah. No horror, though. I hate that shit.”

“Me too, man. Don’t worry.”

The two then left school and started walking to Karkat’s place. At that moment John realized he didn’t know much about Karkat’s home life. The only things he knew was that Karkat lived with his single father and spent most of his free time in his room. When they arrived at their destination, John took a good look at the house from outside.

Karkat’s home was a humble two-story house in a remote area of the town, which was located on a hill. Its walls were grey, it had small windows and a small garage, which _probably_ had a car inside. The house’s door was painted black. John took into note that Karkat didn’t have many neighbors like he did. He could only spot a few tiny houses and that was it.

When they went inside, they were greeted by an angry-looking man sitting at the kitchen table, who John thought was Karkat’s dad. He had pale skin and red eyes like Karkat but his hair was white like eggshells. John assumed the guy was albino.

“Hey, Karkat. Who the hell did you bring in? Your boyfriend?” the man asked. John couldn’t help but notice the faint Russian accent he had. He also couldn’t help that he started blushing like a fucking schoolgirl from the animes.

“Ugh. _No_ , dad. This is John. My _friend_ ,” Karkat said, clearly irritated. John waved at Karkat’s dad awkwardly.

“Huh. It was about time you’d get some friends from where you live,” Karkat’s dad said. He turned to look at John. “I’m Kallistrat Vantas. Nice to meet you, John,” he introduced himself briefly. John nodded.

“You too, sir.”

He proceeded to ignore how the conversation between Karkat and his father continued because he was too busy looking around at everything he could see from where he was standing. Things looked relatively normal, but something in the living room caught his eye. It was a painting of a man in gray robes who looked exactly like Karkat, except that he was older. Beside him there was also a tall, classy-looking woman; a short cheerful woman with long messy hair and a guy with a weird hairstyle and heterochromia, who also looked kind of like a nerd.

John’s thoughts were interrupted by Karkat’s statement, “I’m going to his place. I just need to grab a few things.”

Karkat’s father, Kallistrat, made a grunt of acknowledgement and Karkat started going upstairs, John following behind. He was too intimidated to stay downstairs alone with the crabby man and he was also curious about what Karkat’s room looked like.

Turns out his room wasn’t exactly how John had pictured it. He didn’t know _what_ he was expecting but this certainly wasn’t it. Karkat’s room was probably _the tidiest_ room he had seen in his entire life. The floor was spotless and the only thing on it was a fuzzy mat, which _belonged_ on the floor anyway so it didn’t count. On Karkat’s desk was just a laptop, a mouse, a webcam and microphone-equipped headphones so there was plenty of room to do homework and other things. Whereas John, in comparison, had all kinds of miscellaneous things on his own desk. Karkat also had a bookshelf with books tucked in neatly and, by the looks of it, they were in an alphabetic order. Karkat’s bed was tidily made and _it even had a bedspread on it_. Next to the bed was a laundry basket, within which the dirty clothes were folded in an orderly fashion.

(Now that he thought about it, John should have known Karkat was a cleaning freak. Every time the two made projects together, Karkat was the organized one who did all the work.)

Karkat’s room also had a lot of posters on its dark grey walls. Most of them were movie posters about some random romantic comedies but John also spotted a poster about the TV-series “ _Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”_. There were posters of different rock bands as well. Like ACDC, 69 Eyes, Nirvana, Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Fall Out Boy and Poets of the Fall to name a few. While John had been examining the room, Karkat had started looking for DVDs from his collection. John realized there was an awkward silence so he tried to make a conversation.

“So… You’re Russian?”

“…Yes. But I swear to God if you make even one joke about me being one of Putin’s spies, I’ll fucking cut you.”

“Noooo those are not even remotely funny. When did you move to America? Or were you born here?”

“At least there’s _something_ we agree on. And to answer your question, I was born in Russia but Crabdad and I moved to America when I was six, so I barely remember anything from there. That’s also the reason why I don’t have an accent. Thank God for that.”

“So you’ve lived in America for, what, ten years?”

“Yes. Almost eleven actually. I’ve also lived in Washington the entire time, just in a different city. It’s kind of funny. I’ve lived in cold places for my entire life, but I still can barely fucking stand the shit-flinging cold winters.”

John hummed. He scanned Karkat’s walls again and detected something had apparently missed before. It was a bizarrely colored sickle that was hanging on the wall as a decoration.

“Is that a _real_ sickle?”

“Astute observation, shit stain. Yes it is.”

“Why do you have a sickle? And why is it colored like that?”

“Don’t ask me. My dad’s had it for God-knows-long and he has no clue how it ended up with him. I got it as a decoration from him because I told him I thought it looked cool. Besides, it might come in handy someday.”

“Don’t tell me you have been practicing with it.”

“Hey, a man’s got to know self-defense. You never know when some sort of goon might attack you.”

“Well I guess I can’t criticize you, since I happen to have quite a few hammers as _my_ weapons.”

“What are you, Thor?”

“Ha, I wish.”

It got quiet once more. John let his eyes wander again and swiftly noticed a guitar sitting nicely on a stand next to Karkat’s cupboard. He walked closer to it.

“Woooah, you know how to play the guitar?”

Karkat turned around and stood up. “No, I just have it there for decoration,” he scoffed sarcastically. John chuckled.

“Dude, I think that’s cool. The only instrument I know how to play is the piano.”

“Don’t you _dare_ talk about that skill like it was nothing. A piano is a very difficult instrument and you should be fucking proud of yourself for knowing its secrets. I know _jack shit_ about pianos.”

“Well that’s the same for me with guitars. Those things aren’t very easy either.”

“I am aware.”

John quickly remembered the painting he saw in the living room, so he asked Karkat, “Hey by the way… Who was the man in that painting? And those other people?”

“Oh that… The guy was, uh, my ancestor or some shit like that,” Karkat answered. “And those three other guys were his friends. Or well, the tall woman was his adoptive mother and the other woman was his girlfriend, I guess… Fuck, my dad has told me the story a million times _why can’t I remember_?” he crabbed and slapped his forehead. He seemed to try recollecting his knowledge about the guy.

“Oh right I remember now. Okay, so the tall woman, I think her name was Porrim, was a French woman who had studied to become a custodian and got a job from a Russian orphanage. One day to the orphanage was brought a baby. No-one knew any details about his origin, other than his surname, Vantas. You with me so far?”

“Yeah, go on.”

“Everyone thought the child was a demon or a bad omen because of his red eyes so they avoided him like the plague. Even the other caregivers. Porrim was the only one to nurture him and care enough to actually name him. She took pity on the child, who she named Kankri, so much that one day she left the orphanage and took him with her. She never afforded to stay in one place for long, so she kind of raised him on the run.

“Growing up, the red eyes weren’t apparently the only weird thing about Kankri. His awareness was _way_ ahead of his time and he was, already at a young age, very obsessed with equality. He started traveling around the world, preaching about equal rights for everyone despite of their religion, race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity et cetera. Most people thought his opinions were outrageous, but he also gained followers from generally the oppressed people. At some point in his life he met and fell in love with a British woman named Meulin and befriended a German man named Mituna, who had been accused of witchcraft several times. The four soon became inseparable.

“But of course those in power weren’t going to watch him _‘ruin everything’_ so soon there was a bounty on his head and he had to be even more careful of his identity. His luck didn’t last forever, though, and while he was in North America, he was executed by the orders of a very powerful man called The Grand Highblood.”

“Whoa, you mean _The_ Grand Highblood? The most powerful man of his time? Or well technically the Hawaiian empress was the most powerful person of that time but y’know.”

“Yes. _That_ Grand Highblood. He was more of a fucking tyrant though. _Anyway_ , that was the end of Kankri motherfucking Vantas. Don’t you just fucking _love_ happy endings?”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… What about after that? What happened to Porrim, Mituna and Meulin?”

“You want to hear the full story? _Fine._ But I’m warning you, their fate wasn’t all that pleasant. To put it shortly, Mituna and Porrim became slaves and Meulin was the only one who got away, even though she was supposed to be executed like Kankri. Story tells that she was pregnant for him at that time and fled to Russia to raise the child. About who did the painting, there is no knowing but it was a gift to my family and has been in with us Vantases for generations. Kankri’s rebellion isn’t mentioned anywhere in books so no one even knows it happened. Actually, I doubt anyone except my family knows he even _existed_. Even I’m not convinced he existed but my dad is sure that the whole story is absolute truth. Coincidentally, though, I know three people who own the same painting so I guess it’s either a verbal legend or it really did happen but everyone wanted to pretend it didn’t.”

“I think it would be pretty awesome if that was true! I mean you’d be related to a legendary hero!”

“More like a dumb martyr who didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

“Heh! That makes it the two of you then!”

“Fuck you, Egbert.”

John laughed. Hard. “Alright, alright, alright… My place?”

“Yeah, let’s just go.”

* * *

Karkat was pretty nervous about going to John’s.

Of course he was very curious about where he lived but spending time with John in his own home sounded just… Intimidating. There was no going back now, though. They were already walking there and if Karkat would suddenly change his mind, John might take it the wrong way and he didn’t want that to happen.

When they finally arrived to John’s house, Karkat couldn’t help but let his mind blow up _because he knew this place_. It was the exact same white two-story house from his dreams. He didn’t stay and gawk at the house for long, since John was already going inside. Logically, he followed suit.

“Welcome home, son,” said a joyful voice, which belonged to a man who looked like John minus his slightly more sizable nose and more mature face. Karkat recognized the man and let his brain blow up the second time.

 _Mind Blow x2 Combo_.

“Oh, is this the Karkat I’ve heard so much about?”

_Woah, wait, **WHAT?**_

“ _Dad!_ Don’t make it sound all weird!”

John’s father laughed. Karkat let his mind blow up once again.

 _Mind Blow x3 Com---_ **No, stop. We get it.**

Karkat shook his head. No. He should not jump to conclusions. Of course John would be the kind of asshole who gushes about his friends all the time. In fact, his father has probably heard everything about his friends from their favorite movies to their bra/dick size. Karkat was not special at all. No way.

He gathered he should probably say something before John’s father starts to think he’s impolite, which he usually was, but not to those he knew he should respect. Karkat could tell John’s father was important to the buck-toothed boy, so if he wanted to have good relations with him, he should give the guy’s father a decent impression of himself.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Egbert…” _SHIT, why did he let his voice waver?!_

Mr. Egbert grabbed a firm hold of Karkat’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Same to you, dear Karkat! Anyone who John likes, I do too! So no need to be timid young man!” he boomed. His eyes gleamed with lenience and they seemed to scan Karkat. All of a sudden his face turned serious and he asked, “Are you quite alright? You appear a bit pale.”

“Oh, I-I’m fine. It’s just my complexion. I’m a bit sensitive to the sun, you see...” Karkat trailed off.

“Ah. That is problematic because the sun gives you important vitamins.”

“I know. That’s why I take vitamin supplements. Or well, my dad forces me to.”

“Well that’s excellent! You have a great father, then. Nothing is more important than a child’s health!” Mr. Egbert said cheerfully. He checked his watch. “Oh, but I really need to take wing! I have important affairs and won’t be back in a couple hours so you boys have fun now!” he exclaimed and grabbed his suitcase. With his hurry he still had time to ruffle John’s hair and before his son could object, the man was already slipping out the door. “Just don’t get _too_ wild while I’m gone!”

“We won’t, Dad!”

The door slammed shut and Mr. Egbert was speeding away in his white car. “You just go to the living room, I gotta do something real quick,” John said. Karkat didn’t even have to ask because he knew John was going to set up traps for his old man. Quite a quirky family this was.

Like John had asked, the raven-haired boy went to the living room. He looked around the room and _wow, everything’s just like in his dreams_.

Except not everything after all. The picture of the old woman over the urn was different. This Nanna looked almost the same but she was wearing harlequin clothes and her right eye had a scar over it. Karkat also noticed pictures of a girl who looked like the old woman but she couldn’t be the same person because the pictures were colored and John and his dad were in most of them too. The girl seemed… Familiar as well.

“Hey, Karkat. What’cha looking at?”

Karkat turned around. “Nothing in particular. Just wondering what the _fuck_ is this old woman _wearing?”_

“Oh, Nanna? Yeah, she was a bit weird like that. Harlequin clothes were kinda her thing.”

Karkat hummed. “By the way,” he turned to point at one of the pictures where the girl was, “who’s this?”

“Hm? Oh! That’s my big sister Jane! We used to be the best of friends and quite the pranksters but she’s in college nowadays so I don’t get to see her much anymore.”

“Yeah, I understand what it’s like when you suddenly don’t get to be in touch with person you used to talk with all the time.”

That was true. Karkat had to watch each of his friends go live their lives which he wasn’t part of. The thing that hurt most was the fact that he didn’t even get to say goodbye. They all just drifted apart. Sometimes he just hanged around waiting that one of the Chumhandles would light up and he’d get to talk to _someone, anyone_ of them. He wouldn’t complain if was just a simple “hi how are you” –conversation, that would last only about ten minutes, because he’d still know that the one he was talking to would still be aware of his puny existence.

Karkat snapped out of his thoughts only to notice John looking at him with a concerned frown.

“ _What?”_

“You looked kinda sad there for a minute.”

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about my old, traitorous asshole friends.”

“You mean your online friends who stopped talking to you?”

Karkat gave him a curt nod. “So, are we going to watch movies or will we just have a feelings jam instead?”

“Yeeeeah, let’s watch movies. I’m gonna put a comedy film going first because you need some cheering up!”

Ah, such a simple boy. It was kind of touching.

Surprisingly, John’s simplicity was all he needed. They watched movies of various types like action, romance, comedy, drama… You name it and it was there (except horror because that shit’s nasty.) They even watched a couple of movies that sucked in both of their opinions just to complain about how much they sucked and they just had an overall good time. They did not even notice time fly by because they were enjoying each other’s company.

At one point Karkat stole all of the popcorn just to be a dick.

“Hey, no fair dude! Gimme!” John complained.

“Come and get, it fatass!” Karkat exclaimed with a smirk.

“Fine, maybe I will!” John stated smugly and went in for a pounce to snatch the bowl of popcorn.

Alas, he failed miserably and ended up collapsing on Karkat, making the bowl fall and drop all its contents on the floor.

“Ow, fuck, John you’re _heavy!_  Get off me or I’ll die!”

“Fine, fine, wait…”

“By the way, good job at spilling the popcorn, dumbass.”

“Oh shut up.”

John used the support of his arms to get a little higher so he wasn’t crushing Karkat. Then the boy froze for some reason. Karkat realized the suggestive position they were in and the fact that their faces were mere inches away from each other.

He was using all the strength of his being to keep himself from having a boner or anything similar to that. For a while all he could hear was their breaths and his own heartbeat. It seemed as if John’s face was getting closer to his but he was probably imagining things.

Right at that moment a pie fell on John’s head and the boy jerked away, falling from the couch in the process. Karkat couldn’t hold in his laughter.

“ _HA HA HA, OH MY GOD!_ DID YOU SERIOUSLY JUST GET A PIE ON YOUR HEAD!? OH WOW!” he bellowed and laid on his back. He was out of breath from all of the laughing he was doing.

“ _I ACCURSE THEE, FATHER!”_ John yelled to the air.

* * *

John couldn’t believe that he had just gotten hit by one of Dad’s pranks. Again.

It was gross to have your hair all sticky with pie. Didn’t his father know this or did he just not care??

But it wasn’t all _that_ bad though, because that way John got to hear Karkat’s laugher, which sounded very pleasant. Karkat’s voice wasn’t very manly, but it fit him and sounded nice when he talked. And a person’s laughter was roughly ten times more satisfying to hear, so you can already imagine how John felt to hear someone like Karkat laugh. John also caught a glimpse of Karkat’s white teeth and he noticed them to be a bit on the sharper side.

While Karkat was fighting for breath, John noticed that along the pie came a note.

**“SON. YOU ARE PROBABLY VERY CONFUSED OVER WHAT JUST HAPPENED SO LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU. I ESTIMATED THAT AROUND THIS HOUR YOU WOULD TRY SOMETHING A BIT FRISKY, SO I TIMED MY TRAP TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE SURPRISE! HOPE YOU BOYS ARE HAVING FUN! I AM PROUD OF YOU.**

**-DAD**

**P.S. THE CONDOMS AND LUBE ARE IN THE THIRD DRAWER ;)”**

John’s face turned crimson.

He suddenly realized that just a moment ago when he was in a compromising position with Karkat, he _had_ almost kissed the boy.

But why? He didn’t feel that way. Or at least he thought he did.

M-maybe it was because of the heat of the situation. Also, they had been watching a movie with those types of themes…

A more important question now was: _how did his father know? Was he a psychic? A wizard?_

“John?”

_Or maybe…_

“ _JOHN?_ Earth to John?”

“WHUH??” John whipped his head up to see Karkat looking at him in confusion.

“Are you alright? Or did you hit your head?” the shorter boy asked.

“N-no, I’m okay.”

Karkat noticed the note in John’s hand. “What’s that?”

John’s face twisted into panic and he ripped the note. _“NOTHING._ Just my dad being dumb!” he said hastily and tried to reinforce the statement with an awkward laugh. Karkat quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

There was an uncomfortable silence until Karkat randomly asked, “What time is it?”

John rolled up his sleeve to look at his watch. “Uh, 8:30,” he answered.

“Ah shit, I think I need to go home or my dad will think I’m kidnapped,” Karkat exclaimed and jumped off the couch.

“Why would he think you’re kidnapped?” John snorted with a grin.

“Trust me, he may not look like it but my dad is _the_ most overprotective and _the_ biggest worrywart on this side of the globe and I swear to god if I’m not back before my nine o’clock curfew he _will_ flip his shit.”

“Heh. I guess we’re both cursed with weirdo dads. On my birthday my dad goes to this extreme cake-baking mode so it’s physically impossible for me to even leave my room without having cake shoved into my face. Well, he does the same for Jane, but still.”

“My dad always _buys_ me cake on my birthday but that’s because he can’t cook shit. He is the most butterfingered person on the face of the Earth and he’d be way more dexterous with fucking _claws_ for hands. I’m not even exaggerating.”

The face Karkat made while saying that was nothing short of hilarious. He started gathering his movies into his bag.

“That reminds me… When _is_ your birthday?”

“Not coming in a long time.”

“No but really.”

Karkat sighed. “It’s the 24th of June,” he said.

“So you’re a Cancer? That actually suits you, not that I really believe in horoscopes or anything,” John grinned.

It didn’t even take a second for Karkat to get what he was referring to. He scowled.

“Oh, har de har har, Karkat is a crab. Very original _and_ hilarious. You have an _excellent_ taste in comedy my good sir,” Karkat scoffed.

John responded with a giggle. “My birthday is the 13th of April, which is in, you know, like a month? I’ve actually been meaning to ask you about that.”

“Ask me what? You don’t even need to ask for presents because I’ve given them to worse friends who have, in fact, even lived _across the earth_ so there’s no way in hell that I wouldn’t bother buying _you,_ who is practically my best friend and lives in the same town, a gift as an appreciation for standing me this long.”

“Oh no, I’m not the one to tell people to buy me presents because that’s just douchey. It’s just that it’s my seventeenth birthday and it’s going to be something really special and I want you to be a part of it. If you want to, I mean.”

Karkat looked at John with curiosity. “Where are you going with this?”

“Okay so… You know about my friends, right? Who live in different states?”

“Uh, yes? You tell me about them literally _all the time_.”

“Do I? Oops. Uh, anyway, they’re coming to visit me on my birthday this year. They really meant to be here last year on my sweet sixteen but none of them gathered enough money in time. But the point is that I’d like you to be there too since you’re my friend as well. Rose, Dave and Jade would also really like to meet you!”

Karkat’s face turned into this expression that basically screamed: _I would really like to attend but I am an awkward fuckface who cannot communicate with multiple human beings at the same time so I would rather sulk in my room and pretend I do not exist._

What he said next conformed to the expression, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not really the social type. I’d probably just make your friends regret ever coming to your party.”

“That’s not true! I think they’d really like you. At least Jade totally would. Just please, promise you’ll be there. They’re all bringing their girlfriends and boyfriend and I don’t want to be left alone with fucking couples everywhere around me with me being single and everything.”

“I feel you… But hang on, _why the hell_ are they bringing their sweethearts if they’re coming to celebrate _you?_ ”

“Well, I _do_ want to meet them since they’re dating my best friends. And I’m pretty sure there exists a ‘display your boyfriend/girlfriend to your bro’ –code.”

“I doubt there exists a code like that but I _guess_ that makes sense. Kind of.” Karkat stated. He did a deep and a bit overdramatic sigh and said, “ _Fine,_ I’ll come but only because you mean a lot to me and because it really sucks to be the only single person in a gathering and I can’t let you suffer through that alone because I am _such_ a nice guy.”

John proceeded to give him the biggest of brohugs. “Thanks, Karkat! I really mean it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Karkat said, tapping him on the back. He quickly broke out of the hug and started gathering his things again. “I really have to go now, though. Later, asshat.”

The shorter boy flung his bag onto his shoulder and started walking towards the front door.

“Karkat wait!” John exclaimed and Karkat turned to look at him. “I really had a lot of fun today.”

“Me too. We probably should do this again. Next time, though, try not to get yourself covered in pie. I figure that’s going to be a bitch to clean up later,” Karkat said with a smirk. John smiled.

“Yeah. It is.”

“Bye, John.”

“Bye, Karkat!”

John sees Karkat off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, please refrain from those comments regarding Karkat's birthday. I know y'all celebrate it on the 12th of June but it's not officially his wriggling day. The reason I put it on the 24th was solely because if it was twelfth here it would make him a Gemini in human terms and I don't want that. You are free to ask why it was put on the 24th if you're confused over it, because I chose that specific number for a reason. I won't explain it here in case no one actually gives a fuck. Also I am lazy c:  
> On a side note, writing Dad is fun!  
> And Kallistrat is basically a random Russian name I took from the internet because it sounded good.  
> Yes, my headcanon for Karkat is Russian, because SICKLES.


	3. Intermission: Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's almost the time for Sburb to finally end, but first, let's party.  
> Too bad Karkat doesn't feel like it.  
> John has something nice to tell him though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought you're getting a chapter that actually gets the plot moving? WELL YOU WERE WRONG.  
> Also, don't get confused over the sudden change in narrating. It's only for this chapter to make it stand out and just feel more Homestuck-y.

**== > Be Karkat**

You are now Karkat and you are currently sitting further away from the rest of your friends, who are all just chatting away. The atmosphere is so easy-going that it’s hard to believe you all are going to go fight an omnipotent god of sorts within 24 hours.

You glance at the group. Terezi talks to Vriska really casually despite the fact that she’s sitting on a murderous juggalo who is restrained _only_ with rope and muted by a horn.

You actually find yourself being more unnerved with how there is _no_ tension between Terezi and the one she is talking to.

It’s hard for you to believe that Terezi actually managed to patch up her friendship with the before mentioned spider girl but there the two were. Talking and laughing like nothing had ever happened between them.

Of course they had had around three years to talk through their past mistakes but you still think they became best friends again a bit too fast. You might be biased though, since you never really liked Vriska. You _do_ give her credit for the character development she has been doing lately. She has come far from what she was.

You don’t really pay attention to any of the others because there is nothing about them to pay attention to. They’re all talking about pointless things. The only thing that still catches your eye is the _lack_ of familiar faces. Feferi, Eridan, Nepeta, Equius and Tavros are dead, Aradia and Sollux are hanging around somewhere in the dream bubbles and Gamzee… Well, Terezi had already tried offing him as punishment but the clown refused to die so he’s just “imprisoned” by her and as good as dead. You sigh and turn to look at the sky, which has cracks all over it. Despite that there still are stars as far as the eye could see. Lord English is somewhere out there. Even thinking about him makes your stomach twist in fear.

Earlier today you all had sort of celebrated John’s (and his Nanna counterpart’s, apparently) birthday. You knew that a birthday was a big deal for humans and today is special for you too, because it is the day _John Egbert_ came to life. And that _is_ a big deal. Despite that, this specific day also reminds you of your utter failure as a leader and the horrible things that occurred because of it. That is why you didn’t feel like partying at all earlier _or_ now. You just want to sulk here and wither away like you should.

A warm breeze caresses you and you don’t need to even look to know who sits next to you.

“Hey, Karkat,” a soft voice says. You glance up to look at those gorgeous blue eyes.

“Hi,” you murmur. John frowns in concern.

“Is everything alright?”

You look at John with an _are-you-kidding-me_ -expression.

“…Okay that was a dumb question, since _nothing_ is alright but aside from the obvious things, is something wrong?” John rephrases his question.

You look at the sky once again. You’re not sure if it’s just you or if there are a few more cracks in it. “It’s just… John, don’t get me wrong, your birthday means a lot to me and it is a great day because of you but… I can’t stop thinking about all the other bad things that happened this specific date,” you explain. You turn your gaze to John and see his expression darken as he lowers his head.

“Yeah, sometimes even I can’t bring myself to be exited enough. Aside from meeting you and my other friends, these past three years have been pure hell,” he says with this _voice_. This _voice_ that sounds so broken and so unlike the usual happy-go-lucky John and you finally realize just how much this game has affected him as well. Your John doesn’t deserve this. He deserves to be back at his home with his dad and friends with no care in the world. You feel yourself tear up and you put your arms around him.

“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t realize you felt this shitty. I swear I am the worst matesprit.”

“No, Karkat, you’re not. I didn’t even want you to notice because I figured that as the official friendleader I should be the rock of the team who’d stay optimistic at all times to keep the morale of the team high. I mean, the things I mostly feel bad about is just my dad’s death and the fact that we had to waste three years on this shit. Can you tell me what’s exactly making _you_ sorrowful? Because that is my main concern right now,” John says and he turns to look at you with his eyes of sky blue.

You lean on him and just take in his warmth for a while. He wraps his long and slender arms around you and you feel… _Safe_. Like you always do in John’s arms. “It’s my friends,” you mumble, “today is the day around half of them died.”

John’s face turns blank from realization.

“And the thing that eats me from the inside is guilt. I feel like it was my fault. Like everything.”

John looks at you in the eyes with nothing but solemnity on his face. “Karkat. You guys have probably made a silent agreement that that Jack-stuff was your fault but trust me, it’s _not_. Neither is your friends dying. _Nothing_ is your fault. You don’t need to take the blame.”

You look at him and tears start rolling down your face. You stuff your face on his chest and you cry, “But who is to blame if not me? I failed as a leader… None of them deserved to die, John!”

John taps your back and shushes you in an attempt to make you calm. “I don’t know _who’s_ to blame at this point but I _do_ know it isn’t you. And I _know_ that none of them deserved to die. No-one usually _deserves_ death even if they’ve done bad things.”

You both just sit there for a while and John lets you cry without saying a word.

“...John.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

John leans back so you both can look at each other. He gives you a faint smile which you reciprocate. He kisses your forehead.

“Karkat, I’m gonna tell you something,” John says to you suddenly. You look at him with question rising on your face. “When this all is over and we get to go to the new universe, I’m going to find you. I’m going to find you, even if it takes me decades and when I do, _I_ _will marry you_. Got that?”

Your face twists into a smile. You and John have both talked about your cultures and you have learned a lot about Earth customs from the boy. In exchange he has attempted to understand your way more complex culture with a rather high success, which makes you proud. You _know_ what marriage is and you think it’s one of those few things about human culture that you wish trolls would have had. You feel yourself tear up again and you snatch John into a hug that will probably suffocate him but you are just so happy.

“John, I swear to whatever sadistic godly being that exists out there that you have to keep that promise or I will cut your bulge off and feed it to Gamzee.”

John laughs.

“Karkat. I _promise.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it was fun to add this as a chapter, since I thought I haven't given you enough fluff. There is going to be a second intermission later, but I won't tell you anything else to avoid spoiling you stuff.


	4. The Get-Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the awaited John's birthday.  
> Karkat will soon be surprised when he meets the people who arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! More characters! ^u^  
> Let's see where this is heading.

_The day_ came a bit quicker than Karkat had liked.

Sure, he liked John and a part of him had been looking forward to meeting his friends and overall having a good time with the bucktoothed boy _but_ another part of him was _terrified_ of the thought of meeting new people. Because let’s face it, Karkat was shit at social situations. He had _zero_ social skills. Zip. Nada. _None_. It was a fucking miracle he even _had_ any friends.

Yet he was here. At the park with John, waiting for the boy’s friends to arrive. Apparently they had all planned their flights so, that each of them would arrive to Washington around the same time just to make everything as simple as possible for John. They all must have been arranging this event for a really long time. How long did John say it took them? Over a year? Whatever the case, it was evident that John had been anticipating this moment.

He was standing next to Karkat and he _couldn’t_. _Stop. Fidgeting._ The boy was looking around constantly and jumping from one foot to another. He was biting his lower lip and his sky blue eyes were shining from excitement. Karkat wanted to tell John to stop being so hyper but he couldn’t find the heart to say anything. Instead he took a look at his watch and grunted. They had been standing here for twenty minutes already. _What the hell was taking John’s friends so long?_

Karkat put his hand back in his pocket and started growing impatient. The wind was chilly and he didn’t want to stand still outside for much longer. It was fucking April. It was _cold._ He’d get sick if he mooched around here at the park for too long.

Suddenly John perked up. He started waving his arm enthusiastically. “Dave! Dave! Over here, Dave!” he screamed.

A guy walked up to them. His hair was chalky white and his skin was pasty, he had a small nose and his thin lips were pursed together into a poker face. He was wearing a red-sleeved raglan sleeve shirt with a tiny black jacket and black jeans accompanied with red Converse sneakers. Karkat couldn’t make out his eye color because of the guy’s dumb shades, but he was guessing they were red or pinkish because he looked albino. Karkat looked at the dude --who John had called Dave-- and came to the conclusion that they were probably not going to get along well because he looked like a smug douchebag. He actually felt a bit familiar, though.

“Sup,” was all Dave said.

“You’re fashionably late,” John grinned.

“Of course,” Dave smiled smugly.

“Oh, brother,” Karkat grumbled and rolled his eyes.

Dave turned to him. “So you’re the infamous Karkat who’s been trying to get in my best bro’s pants,” he stated. Karkat’s face flushed pink.

“ _WHAT?”_

“Oh my god, _DAVE!”_

Dave just laughed. “Bro, you know I’m just playin’ you don’t need to get all touchy ‘bout it,” he told John. “Unless,” his tone changed, “you really _want_ him to get in your pants.”

“Pssh, _no._ We’re friends,” John said, slapping Dave’s shoulder. His cheeks seemed to be turning a bit rosy. Karkat wasn’t sure if it was the cold air or if he was flustered too.

Probably the cold air. Yeah.

“By the way John, Washington sucks,” Dave quipped.

“How do you know? You just _got_ here,” John said matter-of-factly.

“It’s too damn cold. Ya shoulda warned me, goddammit,” Dave said while rubbing his arms to warm himself.

“I _told_ you to pack warm clothes. But hey… Weren’t you supposed to bring your girlfriend? Where is she?”

Dave turns to look behind his back. “Oh, she’s comin’. She just has her entirely _own_ pace,” he explains. It wasn’t exactly a proper answer.

“Tsk, tsk, Dave! How dare you leave a blind girl behind?” a scratchy female voice called.

Unexpectedly a girl appeared almost out of thin air. She had shoulder length, coppery vermillion hair and fair skin with freckles scattered all over her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a short, loose, colorful tie-dyed shirt with a black Libra-sign, a black long-sleeved shirt underneath, red jeans and black boots that had teal shoelaces. On her tiny nose rested crimson oval-shaped shades and her cherry red mouth was curved in a familiar looking grin that showed her pearly white, sharp teeth and _wait a fucking minute._

“Sorry, TZ. I was in a hurry to bless my best bro with my presence,” Dave said coolly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” John said with a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you too, John Egbert,” the ginger girl cackled.

 _“Terezi?”_ Karkat almost shouted in disbelief.

Terezi’s head jerked into Karkat’s direction and she inhaled deeply. “Karkles? _Karkles!”_ she yelled and grabbed the short boy in for a hug.

“Holy fucking shit is this real life???” Karkat wondered out loud.

Terezi laughed. “Yup!” she said.

“Terezi, you know this guy?” Dave inquired.

Terezi turned to “look” at Dave with her arm around Karkat’s shoulders. “Yeah! We’ve been friends ever since we figured out how to use a computer _and_ speak/type English! We had really fun conversations on Pesterchum!”

“Yeah, until you stopped going there,” Karkat scoffed. Terezi retracted her arm from him and scratched her neck in embarrassment.

“About that… My laptop broke a few months ago, so I sent it for Sollux to fix,” she confessed.

“All the way to Germany? Why didn’t you just call a technician?” Karkat asked.

“Because I trust Sollux _way_ more than a random technician. He’s _way_ better at computers than anyone else would ever be, anyway,” Terezi said curtly. “Besides,” she continued, “I got an excuse to call him. And get this: he’s actually in a German school for _gifted_ children nowadays because of his genius! He’s super busy, though. I was lucky he actually agreed on fixing my laptop for me. The nerd sure _loves_ computers!”

“So _that’s_ why he hasn’t been in Pesterchum for a long time? Because he’s been busy studying? And here I thought he got tired of me.”

“Quite the contrary my dear Karkat! He complained about how he misses beating your ass in videogames for like, half an hour,” Terezi affirmed. “And overall talking to you, of course,” she added.

Karkat’s face went blank and the blind girl giggled.

“Hmm, Rose and Jade sure are taking their sweet-ass time,” John noted.

“Heh, I bet Rose and her girlfriend are still at the airport powdering their noses or some shit like that,” Dave joked.

Right at that moment a girl with short platinum blonde hair and orchid eyes arrived. She was wearing a longish amaranthine tunic with a dark purple warm jacket, onyx leggings and obsidian ballet shoes. Her hair was decorated with a black silk band, which had a cute ribbon. She also seemed tad familiar. Next to her stood a taller female who was wearing a long pitch-black dress with jade trimming and a white coat. Karkat could not see her face because it was behind a map she was currently reading. The blonde girl tapped Dave’s shoulder and he whipped around to look at her.

“Heeey there, Rose, what’s up?” the shades-wearing boy asked.

The purple-clad girl arched up her right eyebrow and her black painted lips rounded into a smirk. “Hello, Dave. Needn’t I remind you that talking shit about people when they are not around is very impolite? Perhaps I need to re-educate you about basic etiquette?” she said complacently. She turned around to look at her companion. “What do _you_ think, Kanaya?”

_Wait, could it be?_

“I am not sure, Rose. I do not know him well enough to criticize him about his behavior,” the girl said with a voice Karkat knew all too well. She lowered her map enough to show her pale skin, jade eyes and short dark brown hair and there was no doubt about her identity. Karkat would recognize that motherly look and that gentle smile from anywhere.

Terezi was quicker at reacting than him despite her blindness. “Oh my god, is that you Kanaya?” she gasped.

Kanaya’s gaze was instantly aimed at Terezi. “Terezi?” she wondered aloud, dumb-struck about the blind girl’s presence. Naturally she also noticed Karkat. _“Karkat?”_ she almost cried out, but managed to keep her tone somewhat normal to maintain her elegance. The surprise was still evident in her voice.

Karkat wasn’t sure what to do in that situation, so he just mumbled a quiet, “Hi, Kanaya,” and waved his hand awkwardly.

Kanaya was immediately squeezing the living shit out of both of them. “It is a delight to finally encounter you both, even though I didn’t exactly imagine us meeting like this,” she told them.

“Yeah, well, internet friends don’t usually meet by coincidence,” Karkat remarked.

Kanaya laughed. “Ah, I missed your sass,” she stated. She was quiet for a moment. “That reminds me, I deeply apologize for not talking to either of you in a long time. My Pesterchum has been acting up and I do not know what exactly is wrong,” she said with her mouth making a thin line to show her displease.

“Nah, that’s alright. My computer’s broke anyway,” Terezi laughed. “I’m pretty sure Karkat’s the one you need to apologize to,” she pointed out.

“It’s fine, Kanaya,” Karkat reassured. “You have a legitimate reason anyway. It’d be really shitty of me to be angry at you for something that you can’t control,” he added.

“Whoa, looks like we’re not the only ones united,” John said out of the blue.

_Oh right, they’re here too._

“I dare say this is very moving,” Rose replied.

“Yeah, touching reunions all up in this bitch. I think I have to shed a singular tear for the sake of the situation,” was Dave’s comment.

 “Could you _please_ not talk about us _like we’re not even here?”_ Karkat snapped.

John fought back a giggle. “Sorry, dude,” he said. He didn’t sound apologetic at all, though. Karkat furrowed his eyebrows.

“Are we done here now? I’m getting cold,” he complained.

“No, we still gotta wait for Jade,” John responded.

“And the other Dave,” Dave added.

“It is taking them fairly long to arrive. I hope they’re alright,” Rose said with concern. Karkat sighed in frustration. Kanaya papped his shoulder and Terezi started examining her nails, even if she couldn’t exactly _see_ her nails according to logic. She was weird like that, and Karkat had decided to not question her antics a _long_ time ago.

The silence was abruptly broken by an exasperated groan from afar, “ _Daaaave,_ they’re just shades! Stop busying yourself with them and focus on the more important things at hand!”

“Fuck _that_ noise. These were a gift from my best bro and I ain’t restin’ until I get ‘em fixed,” another voice said. It sounded a lot like Dave, but that didn’t make sense since Dave was standing mere two feet away from Karkat.

It didn’t take long until they spotted the two people engaging in this tiny argument. The other was a girl about their age with long raven hair, buckteeth and bright green eyes. She was wearing a chartreuse green shirt, a black skirt that reached her knees, stockings, black ankle boots, a darker green coat and a pair of big, round glasses. The other was a guy and saying he looked a bit like Dave was an understatement. He was almost an exact copy of the dude, the difference being just the guy’s feather-like ginger hair that was almost bright orange and his unnaturally golden eyes. His outwear also mostly consisted of the color orange. He had a brown coat, a tangerine shirt, jeans and orange sneakers. He seemed to be tinkering with something that appeared to be a pair of shades identical to Dave’s.

John gasped. “Jade!” he exclaimed. He caught the girl’s attention and her face was quickly overcome with an expression of joy.

“John! Hi!” she shouted back, grabbed her chum -- who was still desperately trying to fix his shades -- and stomped over to them. “Sorry you guys had to wait! _Someone,”_ she glared at the Dave look-a-like, “broke his shades and refused to leave until he’d fix them. I had to practically drag him with me,” she continued.

“Well I’m sorry that they have _sentimental value,”_ the Dave look-a-like retorted. When he finally managed to pop the disconnected lens back into its place with a snap, he let out a triumphant laugh and put the shades on his nose.

“Holy shit am I looking at a mirror?” Dave pretended to gasp. “I don’t remember ever dying my hair orange, though.”

“The thing is, you were always ginger. People told you you’re an albino just to fuck with you,” the Dave look-a-like played along.

“Well fuck me in the ass, my reflection just responded to me! I can finally have full conversations with myself and _ironically_ fall in love in the process,” Dave pretended to cry out in delight.

“Yes, come into my embrace. Dave x Dave selfcest. We’re making this happen,” the Dave look-a-like said. Karkat wasn’t exactly sure where this was going anymore.

“You know what Nepeta would say in this situation, right?” Terezi said to both Karkat and Kanaya while letting out a cackle of amusement.

“Shouldn’t you interfere before this escalates?” Kanaya asked with a hint of worry in her tone.

“Fuck no, this is _delicious,”_ Terezi laughed. Her humor was questionable at best. “Carry on, boys!”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I want to witness Dave smooching Dave Sprite on my birthday,” John said. Dave turned his shade-protected gaze to him.

“Why not, bro? This is a birthday gift at its finest,” he countered.

“Well first, I’m not comfortable with watching you smooch someone who could be your long lost twin. Second, _you_ have a _girlfriend_. And third, I have no-one to smooch so I’d not like to see others do it in front of me,” John stated.

“You could go ahead and smooch _him_ ,” Sprite noted while nodding at Karkat. “You two are together, right?”

John’s face turned crimson, and it wasn’t the cold air this time. Karkat wasn’t the one to judge since he was blushing just as badly if not worse. “No, we’re not,” John rejected.

“What?” Sprite looked genuinely astonished at this revelation. “Bro, you just sank my OTP.”

“I don’t think you’ve known us long enough to ship us,” John said.

“You know love at first sight? I’m _pretty_ sure there definitely exists a thing called OTP at first sight,” Sprite responded. “And you just sank it.”

“Hey, it’s _no_ t like this is a _fanfiction,”_ John retorted.

“I’m… not sure how I should respond to that,” Sprite said.

Terezi leaned in to whisper to Kanaya, “Just so you know, I am _loving_ this sexual tension between Karkles and Johnny-boy. I’d be poking fun at them if Orange McSprite-pants wasn’t doing for me.” She cackled while Kanaya looked at her with a bemused expression. Karkat shot a glare at the blind girl but didn’t have the courage to say anything at this point.

“Guys! Don’t forget _what_ we’re all here for!” Jade spoke up. She put her hand on John’s shoulder and used the other to point at the boy. _“This guy_ has a birthday today! We should go celebrate it now,” she clarified.

 _“Finally_ someone pointed it out,” Karkat snorted.

“My sentiments exactly,” Rose added.

Both Daves just shrugged. “You’re a cool dude, by the way. I think this the start of a beautiful broship,” the albino Dave said to the ginger one.

“I agree with you,” Sprite replied.

* * *

John’s birthday mostly consisted of them going around the town and doing things on a whim. For example, they ended up watching a movie just because John noticed an advertisement of it and wanted to check it out.

This did not mean that Karkat was displeased with the “party.” Quite the opposite actually.

It was a lot of fun. Karkat got to catch up with two of his favorite lady friends and got to know John’s friends, who seemed to be at least just as interesting. Dave was a dick, though. Both Daves were, actually. They were very strange as well.

But if there was a contest on which Dave was weirder, Karkat would have to say Sprite. Everywhere they went, there were crows flying nearby and you couldn’t miss which person they were following, since Sprite had to constantly shoo the black birds away or they would have probably sat on either his head or his shoulders. And don’t even dare claim that Karkat did not notice the weird, unreadable glances the ginger guy gave him. He did that to John too, but the dork was too oblivious to notice that of course.

Karkat was very suspicious of the guy, but he couldn’t really say or do anything. He’d just give the rest of the group an impression that he was an asshole -- which he _was,_ but not _that_ kind of asshole. He just had to keep an eye on the guy for now.

At the moment they we’re in a local pizzeria, digging into the delicious pizzas they had ordered.

“Oh, John! I just remembered something I wanted to tell you!” Jade spoke up with her almost ever-present cheerful tone while taking a small bite from her slice of pepperoni pizza.

“Well, shoot,” John replied as he was clearly interested.

“I did a bit of research on my family and found out we’re actually related!”

“Whoa, really?”

“Uh-uh! I even found a picture of my grandpa and your grandma! My dad is your dad’s twin brother, apparently,” Jade confirmed.

“So we’re cousins? That’s cool!”

“Yup! That actually explains why _you_ look exactly like Jake! Aside from the eyes and hairstyle.”

“And how _you_ resemble Jane!”

Both bucktoothed teenagers chuckled. Karkat ate his pizza while he listened to the conversation between them. The two being cousins somehow didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t say anything of course. Who was he to know? Still he couldn’t shake the feeling that they we’re supposed to be siblings. Ectosiblings was the word that came into his mind. Karkat didn’t understand it. It wasn’t even a real word, really. But it still sat in the corner of his mind. He attempted to shrug it off and took another bite of his delicious shrimp pizza.

His mind was just fucked up. _He_ was just fucked up. That was all.

Jade turned to him all of a sudden. “Hey, Karkat,” she began.

Karkat blinked and turned to look at her. He let out a questioning hum.

“What were you thinking about a second ago?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed to be in serious thought. You even had your brows furrowed. Like this!” Jade then proceeded to make a bad impression of him, which consisted of her furrowing her brows and scrunching up her nose a bit. Karkat’s expression turned from confused to unimpressed within a second.

“No offense, but what I think about isn't exactly your fucking business,” He said. “Also, I do _not_ look like that.”

“Whatever you say,” Jade giggled. “I want to ask you a _real_ question now, though.”

“This better not be a question about what kind of fucking dreams I have, because otherwise I swear to god, Harley,” Karkat scoffed. It was a joke, of course, but he really did wish that wasn’t what she was going to ask for obvious reasons.

“Rude!” Jade huffed but she didn't seem actually offended, judging from the small chuckle she made. “But no, that wasn't it. I actually just wanted to ask how you became friends with John. He already told me the basic gist of things, but I want to hear your side of it.”

“Oh. It wasn’t anything much. He just basically started talking to me and refused to leave me alone until I tolerated his company,” Karkat said casually.

“I did not!” John butted in.

“I’m afraid you did,” Karkat countered. “I like you better than anyone else from our school, though, so don’t take it _too_ badly.”

“You made me sound desperate, dude!” John claimed.

“Maybe you are,” Karkat smirked.

Jade snorted and started giggling. “You two are so _silly,”_ she hooted. John and Karkat didn’t continue arguing after that, because she was right.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” John said after a few minutes. He excused himself from the table and walked away. Everyone watched him leave and when they were sure he was out of hearing range, they turned their gazes to Karkat. It instantly made him unnerved. Did they hate him after all? Was this going to be an interrogation?

“When did you notice you had a crush on him?” was the first thing he was asked. It was Rose.

 _Oh god this_ was _going to be an interrogation! Please no._

“W-what the fuck do you mean?” Karkat tried to play dumb. They did not buy it though.

“Oh, you do not need to worry Karkat. We are not going to tell him. We are just curious,” Kanaya attempted to calm him down.

“It’s pretty fucking obvious you like him, ya know,” Sprite remarked.

“I smelled it from a mile away!” Terezi cackled.

“I noticed it too. I didn’t say anything, since John didn’t seem to know,” Jade said.

“Am I _that_ transparent?” Karkat asked. He sounded a bit more panicked than intended.

“To be frank, yes. Yes, you are,” Rose said. “But don’t be alarmed. I’m pretty sure John hasn’t noticed. He is the type of guy who doesn’t notice when people pine after him,” she added.

That made Karkat relax a bit, however, it was overshadowed by embarrassment.

“Yeah. Egbert wouldn’t notice someone likes him even if that person would be humping his leg and screaming ‘You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful’ lyrics,” Dave commented.

Karkat blushed from embarrassment at that image. He’d never have the guts to do something that humiliating. Or at least sing that song. He knew _way_ better love songs.

 _“Anyway,”_ Dave said, “I wish ya good luck on chasing after the Egbert booty,”

“Wow, thanks,” Karkat droned.

“Everybody shush! John’s coming,” Jade urged. She even put her index finger in front of her lips.

Soon John came to them and sat down. “What did I miss?” he asked.

“Nothing special,” Rose was quick to say. “We just had a nice chat with Karkat.”

“Well that’s nice!” John smiled.

This time even Karkat didn’t notice how Sprite was staring at them, but it was probably because of his shades. “I gotta go for a sec. BRB,” the ginger said and left the table.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” Rose mused.

“Well, judging from how he took out his phone, he’s probably going to call his brother,” Jade speculated.

They resumed eating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, I wonder what Dave Sprite is up to. We shall see! :D  
> And I'm sorry this chapter is short. I couldn't really come up with fun birthday shenanigans. For me it was mostly important to get to the end scene. I just really want to get the plot moving to the interesting side. I'm also sorry if the clothes they are wearing upset you. I never claimed to be a fashionista. :(  
> The next chapter is going to be VERY intriguing. (I hope. It is to me at least, but I don't know about you guys.)


	5. Screw The Rules, I'm Part Crow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is Dave Sprite and what does he want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! A surprise point of view! How lovely!

Many people would have broken down crying and end up calling for their mommy going through even half the shit Davesprite had to go through. Not Davesprite, though, since he was too cool for that. Also, he didn’t have a mommy.

Or well, technically he did, but Ms. Lalonde would probably be very confused if a random coolkid would run up to her crying and calling her his mom. But hey, he couldn’t blame her for not knowing she had such an awesome and cool son -- who was also part bird.

And not just any bird. A fucking crow. The asshole bird who didn’t have the slightest clue what it meant when something was _not yours._ So theoretically Davesprite was also an asshole. Though, he was an asshole even before morphing with a crow so he was _double_ the asshole he used to be.

Albeit no-one would ever believe it, Davesprite still was _more_ than a brainless feathery asshole. He did have feelings and they had been thrown all over the place during _The Game_. He had to live with the guilt of letting the Rose of his timeline die alone, he had to witness Bro die, he had to watch his best bro favor his Alpha-timeline self and end up hating _him_ (though it was mostly because of the guy’s raging teenage hormones), and he had to break up with the love of his life because he wasn’t human and therefore it couldn’t work out (at that time he was also under the impression he was going to end up getting erased.) There was probably a lot more other shit but those were the things he could name from the top of his head.

Yeah, his “life” had been rough but he wasn’t looking for pity or attention because of that. Besides, things got progressively better _after_ _Sburb_ was completed. Apparently the game couldn’t erase him or the other sprites -- as in Nannasprite and Jaspersprite -- because they weren’t sprites from that specific game session. It couldn’t let them stay as sprites either though, so they all got turned into humans (Jaspersprite was turned into a human because the game didn’t really know what to do with him. A tentacle-cat would’ve been pretty fucked up.) Even so, Davesprite was pretty sure they still could use their sprite powers if they focused their energy enough, but there was no reason to do that at the moment. What the game could _not_ manipulate, however, was their memories because they were still part of its data -- and we all know erasing the memory of something that is a part of your programming is never wise. Of course keeping his memories _did_ make Davesprite feel bad, because he knew he’d have to keep a _lot_ of secrets from his friends and he didn’t like that. But he’d rather sacrifice to keep them happy.

Nevertheless, the greatest thing about all of this was that Davesprite was _human._ He was not _the other Dave;_ he was an _individual_ (although technically he still was another version of Dave, but nobody knew that.) He wasn’t Dave _sprite,_ He was just _Dave_. He could be with his girlfriend again and she would see him as _her Dave_ instead of _the Dave with feathers_ or _the Dave who wasn’t banging a hot alien_. He could actually be happy and enjoy his life for once. He could have another chance as friends with John again, too. They could _all_ live happily without worrying about death or completing a game that destroys _planets_. They could all _just_ appreciate their own lives and be with the ones destined for them.

 _Especially_ John and Karkat because when it came to who had the least time to actually _date_ , those guys took the metaphorical cake. Mostly because they were both such clumsy fucks at relationships and there were so many mixed feelings between the two -- not to mention the whole _‘I am not a homosexual’_ -phase John had had.

But of course on the other hand, their relationship had the fastest progress. Davesprite was _fairly_ certain none of the others had actually fucking _proposed_ to their respective partners (you fucking GO, John!)

Davesprite had been looking forward to their soon-to-be-wedding a lot, to be honest. Every minute of his new existence he had been mentally preparing himself for catching the bouquet.

Those thoughts had been smacked right into his face when he found out John and Karkat had fucked it up. He was expecting to see those two snogging or holding hands and being all lovey-dovey, but instead he got them as just friends (fucking Déjà vu all up in here.)

On the other hand, Davesprite should’ve been expecting something like that, since they _had_ been pretty slow on the romance department. And even though they _were_ fated for each other, destiny couldn’t do much to their tomfoolery. Davesprite was sure the wedding was going to be _much_ postponed. The reason why John and Karkat got so far _last_ _time_ was most likely just because they were assuming they were going to die anyway and they _had_ to tell each other how they really felt. This time they might not be so lucky. Davesprite _knew_ that when John would finally come to terms with his feelings, he’d probably be too cowardly to actually _tell_ Karkat. And well… Karkat was just as lily-livered.

This could not do. Davesprite had to do something.

He’d have to break the rules.

“I gotta go for a sec. BRB,” he said and left the table.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” he heard Rose muse.

“Well, judging from how he took out his phone, he’s probably going to call his brother,” was Jade’s answer.

Yes, Jade, that’s what he was going to do. Call his “brother.”

Davesprite tapped in Jaspers’ number and pressed his phone onto his ear. _Pick up you lazy feline._

It took a while until Davesprite heard a voice purr, _“Hello? Yes, this is cat.”_

“Hey, it’s me,” Davesprite greeted.

 _“I_ know, _Dave!”_ Jaspers laughed. _“State your business.”_

“What? Can’t I call you just to say hi?”

_“Puh-lease, you never call me without a reason, feather-brain!”_

“Well yeah, I don’t. Listen, ya remember our rule?”

 _“You mean the rule that we must never_ ever _tell the others about The Game? Of course I do!”_

“Yeah, that. I’m gonna have to break that rule.”

 _“You called me to tell me_ that? _Dave, I am a cat. I don’t give two shits about rules! It’s about time you started to think like a cat!”_

“If you’re a rebel, why didn’t _you_ try to tell them, then?”

 _“I didn’t need to! And you know I’m not heartless! I want Rose and Roxy to live happily, you know? A cat knows when to keep secrets. Kind of like when you’re_ not _supposed to take a dump on your owner’s shoe but you do anyway and then you don’t tell them?”_

“Gross.”

_“What? You do those kinds of similes and metaphors all the time!”_

“Still gross. And if there’s shit in my shoes I swear to God.”

 _“I have never done anything like that in my life! Or,_ lives _. It was just a story I heard from another cat back when I was one.”_

“…I’m gonna take your word on that. But yeah,I’m taking a page from a cat’s book and break the rules for the greater good.”

_“If you think it’s all the best, then I’m fully supporting you!”_

“Thanks. Oh, and Jaspers…”

_“Yeah, birdie?”_

“There better not be any dead animals in the house when I get back.”

_“I’m not making any promises~!”_

Davesprite hung up.

All he had to do was to get John to remember. He knew he couldn’t just straight-up tell him. John would just think he’s completely cuckoo.

He just had to trigger his memories.

Davesprite let his mind’s small cogwheels spin, trying to figure out how to execute his plan as he strode back to the others.

“So, how’s Jaspers?” Jade asked, looking at him with her bright peridot eyes.

“The usual,” Davesprite replied, sitting down. The weird glance he was given from Karkat did not go unnoticed. The cherry-eyed guy was clearly onto him. He had to act less suspicious or else he’ll never get an invite to the wedding.

“Why’d you have to call him? Something important?” Jade interrogated.

Okay, it was innocent curiosity, but it sure felt like an interrogation. Davesprite knew she didn’t mean it like that though.

“Oh you know him. Just had to do a check-up call. Sure he says he’s independent but you never really know with cats,” he blurted out.

It was at that moment when Rose arched up her eyebrow that he knew he fucked up. _Shit._ _Gotta play it cool._

“I call him a cat because he tends to act like one. Kinda like that video where there’s the dog-friend and the cat-friend? He’s the cat-friend, except less of an asshole. It’s totally okay for me to call ‘im a cat, though. He calls me bird-boy,” he added nonchalantly. Okay, that last part he could have left out. _This is why you have to think what you say before you say it._

“Interesting,” Kanaya laughed. _Uhm, can you_ not?

_Oh, and Karkat don’t you dare think your smug smirk went unnoticed ‘cause it didn’t, you ass._

Shit. Focus, you birdbrain.

Gotta get to be alone with John.

Concentrate on John.

_Plan, plan, plan, PLAN._

Davesprite did a sideways glance at Jade to look for inspiration. She always inspired him.

Wait, _Jade._

Yes! _Jade!_

Davesprite took out a pen and began to write on his napkin. He slide the napkin and the pen across the table’s surface to Jade.

**Jade. Could you distract these guys for a sec? I need to be alone with John.**

She gave the message a confused glance and then took the pen. The napkin was soon in front of Davesprite again.

**Are you going to cheat on me with my cousin??? >:/**

**Nah, babe. Sure, he’s _quite_ a hot package but I just need to talk to him alone for a few minutes. It’s important.**

**Does this have something to do with Karkat? :o**

**Yes, but don’t worry I’m not gonna spill the beans. I just gotta give John a lil’ hint ya know? He seems pretty dense. Just trust me on this, Jade.**

**Well yeah, he _is_ pretty dense… Alright, I’ll trust you. :)**

Jade suddenly stood up. “Oh man! It looks like I lost my phone!” she yelled. She was quick to give Davesprite a wink. “Girls? Dave? Karkat? Could you help me find it?”

Karkat grumbled something in Russian under his breath. “I have to look for something _you_ lost?” he complained, but stood up anyway.

“Shit, bro. Of course we’ll look for your phone. Those things are valuable,” Dave said and practically jumped up from his seat. Ha. Naïve bastard.

“Of course I will assist you, Jade,” Kanaya said. She stood up and brushed the hem of her dress clean.

“I believe we should go ask the reception first,” Rose suggested.

“I won’t be much help, but sure, I’ll tag along!” Terezi giggled.

“I’ll stay and guard the table.” Davesprite stated.

“I can come help too!” John offered, but Jade pushed him back into his seat.

“No! I think the six of us is enough. Just stay and guard the table with Dave, okay?” she yelped with a little panic straining her voice. John looked at her with confusion but consented and stayed put.

Soon it was just John and Davesprite.

He smirked.

Just according to plan.

* * *

John would be lying if he said staying alone with Sprite wasn’t uncomfortable.

They both just _sat_ there. And John was pretty sure Sprite was staring at him from behind his shades.

Sprite just seemed a bit eerie to John. He guessed it was mostly because the ginger guy shared such an uncanny resemblance with Dave in every aspect. He seemed so foreign yet so familiar at the same time. It creeped John out.

“Hey, John.”

John gulped. “Yeah?” he managed to vocalize.

“Wanna hear a riddle?”

“Uh, sure, I guess.”

“Red eyes. Shimmering rubies. Crimson. Dripping blood. Knight in battle. Who is it? And who are you?”

“…How the hell is that a riddle?”

“You’ll get it eventually. You just have to think about it really hard and it’ll come to you.”

John felt cold sweat form on his forehead. He was instantly relieved when he noticed Jade and the others were approaching them.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Sprite said. He leaned closer to John and whispered half aloud, “413.” Then he pulled back to his place.

“Hey guys! Turns out my phone was in my bag instead of my pocket this whole time! Funny, huh?” Jade said.

“Yeah, we moved away from the table for nothing because you hadn’t _checked your bag,”_ Karkat grunted. Jade gently punched his shoulder. “Ow.”

“Well I’m glad it turned out okay!” John said and tried as hard as he could to hide his unease.

* * *

Not much after the visit to the pizzeria, the party was over.

Mostly because it was getting late and John still had a family dinner he needed to attend to, since it was also his sister’s birthday and she was visiting them from college again after a long time. And he really wanted to spend time with her.

Of course she was staying for a few days, but a birthday dinner was a pretty important thing in the Egbert family. And most of his guests had a flight booked back home, nonetheless. Dave and Terezi to Texas, Rose and Kanaya to New York and Jade and Dave Sprite to California.

In the end the only ones walking were John and Karkat.

“So… Did you enjoy this event or were all my friends… Dickmunchers?” John chuckled.

“Trust me, they’re _all_ asses,” Karkat remarked. “But I _guess_ it was fun anyway,” he mumbled.

John smiled. Karkat was such a tsundere sometimes.

They didn’t really talk much after that, but it didn’t matter to John. He enjoyed just walking in the cold and crisp spring air. He enjoyed just the overall company of Karkat. It was nice.

John mentally cussed when they were at his house. “Well, this is my stop,” he said and tried to hide his disappointment. Karkat nodded.

“Yeah. So I guess… I’ll see you around?” he said unsurely.

“You bet!” John laughed. He looked Karkat into the eyes.

They were red like always. Red like rubies, like blood. Crimson.

John’s eyes squeezed shut as he was quickly overcome with a massive headache. It was like he had been hit on the head with a mallet. Karkat was instantly by his side.

“John? What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing. I’m okay. Just a minor headache,” John tried to assure the shorter boy. Karkat’s brows were furrowed with worry.

“You better go inside. Take some aspirin or something,” he told John.

“Yeah, don’t worry.” John said. He grabbed the doorknob. “Bye, Karkat.”

“Goodbye, John,” Karkat answered and started walking away. “Take care of yourself, okay? I can’t be there nursing you all the time you know!”

“I will.”

John went inside and the smell of food found its way into his nostrils. His headache was gone instantly at the thought of what delicious food Dad has made. “I’m home!” John yelled.

A familiar, chubby female figure came to him from the kitchen. She looked just like John remembered, with her pitch black short hair that curled slightly at the tips, cyan eyes and red-painted lips. She had that fifties-type of glamor in her along her ovoid glasses, pearl earrings and hairstyle. And she was beautiful.

“Jane!” John exclaimed and marched to hug his sister.

“John! Boy, you’ve gotten so _tall!_ How will I ever reach to give you kisses now?” Jane laughed as she returned the hug.

“Well, I _am_ seventeen now,” John chuckled.

“Ah, I remember when you were shorter than me and you always complained about it,” Jane sighed with a wistful smile.

“Yeah, but I’ll always be your _little_ brother in the end,” John said. “And I really gotta say, you look _great,_ Jane!”

“My thank you, Johnathan,” Jane giggled.

“My name’s not Johnathan,” John whined jokingly, poking his tongue out. They both laughed.

_Hoo, hoo, hoo!_

_He, he, he!_

The dinner he had with Dad and Jane was one of the highlights of his birthday (even if he didn’t eat much because he had stuffed himself with pizza.) It was always nice to see his sister and childhood friend.

It didn’t take John long to find out why Jane seemed so gorgeous all of a sudden. She had gotten a lot of confidence. And John was happy about it. He remembered how his sister used to have issues with her body type, so it was lovely to see her love herself. What was there not to love about Jane?

Truly, her relationship with Roxy had helped her a bit in life.

“So, how have things been around here while I was gone? I think I saw you from the window with someone outside. Who was he?” Jane asked John. She gasped, “Is he your _boyfriend?”_

“No! Karkat and I are just friends,” John retorted. “Why do people keep asking that?”

“Hoo, hoo, hoo! John, you don’t need to get so bashful! I’m just curious! You’re not together. I believe you,” Jane snickered.

It was quiet for a while and John was in his thoughts again. Thinking about Karkat.

He was struck with another headache and it was worse this time. He held his head.

“John? Are you alright?” Jane rose up from her chair.

“So-sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just a headache,” John guaranteed. Jane was having none of it, though.

“I think you should go rest. Dad, could you grab the aspirin?”

“Will do.”

John was presented with a pill and a glass of water. He downed both in no time.

“Now go to bed,” Jane demanded.

John didn’t protest because sleep sounded just about right at the moment.

He ascended the stairs into his room, changed into his pajamas and slipped under his covers.

Oh, what horrors awaited him in his sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Alternate ending #1**  
>  "Hey, John."  
> John gulped. "Yeah?" he managed to vocalize.  
> "Wanna hear a riddle?"  
> "Uh, sure, I guess."  
> Suddenly they both heard a loud whistle and a gray guy in a red sweater ran up to them. "FREEZE! TRIGGER P9LICE!"  
> "What the hell are _you_ doing here???" Davesprite yelled.  
>  "Y9u are under arrest f9r trying t9 trigger this b9y!" the guy declared, snapping shackles onto Davesprite's wrists.  
> Davesprite was taken away.  
> "What the _fuck_ just happened?" John wondered aloud.
> 
>  **Alternate ending #2**  
>  “So, how have things been around here while I was gone? I think I saw you from the window with someone outside. Who was he?” Jane asked John. She gasped, “Is he your _boyfriend?”_  
>  “No! Karkat and I are just friends,” John retorted. “Why do people keep asking that?”  
> "Because, son," Dad said, "you are so in yaois with each other."
> 
> This is why you shouldn't write at fucking 4 A.M.


	6. Intermission: Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John has successfully accomplished a mission Terezi had given to him.  
> There is only one thing he must do before he can return to his time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I promised an another intermission? Well here it is!  
> This one is from John's POV if it isn't obvious already. Pretty fair right? Karkat got an intermission chapter and now John gets one too! But enough babbling, enjoy this short but cute chapter!

**== > Be John**

You are now John Egbert and currently you exist outside of time and space as you have just finished a time travel-including mission Terezi had given you.

There is just one thing you have to do before you return to the future.

Since you’ve never had the privilege to actually _be_ there on Karkat’s birthday, you have to at least give him a present. Now is the perfect opportunity for that and it doesn’t matter how much time you spend time traveling for you will still arrive to the future at the exact hour you want. Time traveling is very convenient like that. Especially when you don’t have to worry about time loops and doomed timelines. Wow, it sure must suck being a time player without retcon powers!

Alright, enough of inner monologuing. It is time to put your plan into action.

You close your eyes and focus your energy, your _entire being_ to transport into Karkat’s room on Alternia before it was destroyed.

You open your eyes.

You find yourself in a dark grey room and you glance around. Yep. This is Karkat’s room alright. The posters instantly give it away.

You sigh in relief when you realize Karkat is not in the room. You don’t know how you could have explained a random alien guy appearing to his room out of _nowhere_. For about a minute you just stand in the empty area and try to resist the itching to set up a prank in there.

You shake your head. You need to focus. There’s no knowing when Karkat is going to be back, so you’ve got to be quick.

You float over to what you think is Karkat’s closet and open the door. Wow. He has only one kind of shirt. And pants. You don’t know if you should frown or laugh. You grab a shirt. Karkat won’t even notice it’s gone, besides, you’ll return it as soon as you can.

Alright. Onto phase two.

You focus your energy again and picture yourself in your room when you had just gotten into the game. In a flash you are gone, as if you were never even in Karkat’s territory. You just hope you didn’t leave your scent in there.

You appear in the room Rose had deployed the Alchemiter. At this hour past you should be outside whacking imps with a hammer, so you have plenty of time to do the thing.

You take out the scarf which _your_ Terezi had given you and you rip off a piece that is not smudged with her blood. She isn’t going to be bothered if you take a bit of it to your own use as she is dead now. And the Terezi that is supposedly alive most likely has a scarf of her own, so no big deal.

You use the borrowed shirt and the piece of crimson fabric to alchemize a shirt that is identical to the original shirt, the difference just being that the Cancer symbol is red instead of gray. You smile at your creation. Although it bothers you that you didn’t have time to put much effort into the present itself, you remind yourself that it’s the thought that counts. You put up a mental note to give Karkat a huge party _and_ a proper present after you’re done with the game.

Now you just have to return the original shirt before Karkat actually notices it’s gone. It’s such a great thing that the Alchemiter retains the original stuff after you alchemize something new from them.

You zap once again before your past self even notices you visited.

**== >**

After you return the shirt into Karkat’s closet (without him noticing), you appear on the meteor hopefully on his fifteenth birthday (you don’t really know how much that would be in sweeps.)

You float on your appearing spot for a moment until you hear someone shout in disbelief, “John?”

You turn around to see the nubby horned troll and grin. “Hi, Karkat!” you say cheerfully. You’re glad you didn’t have to search for him.

“What are you _doing_ here? _How_ are you here? What the actual _fuck?!”_ Karkat yells and you try to calm him down.

“Stop shouting and I’ll explain!” you tell him, and he is quiet instantly. “Okay, first off, I am not _your_ John, per se. I am a John from the future! Before you get confused, I have gained -- or, _will_ gain -- these powers that let me travel through time and space freely. And I’ve been on a mission given to me by future Terezi. Uh, let’s just say things got fucked up and I came to fix things.”

“So _that’s_ why you randomly appeared on the meteor around a sweep back!” Karkat realizes.

“Yeah. I was too busy to explain back then,” you say. “But I’m done now, and before I go back to my time, there’s something I’ve got to give you. It’s your birthday today, right?”

“My wriggling day? Yeah, it is. I don’t see why it matters, though,” Karkat tells you.

“Aw yiss, I succeeded!” You exclaim with a fist pump. “I have a present for you.”

Karkat perks up and it’s evident on his face that he is confused. You remind him that humans tend to give presents to their friends and family on their birthdays. You take out the shirt you alchemized and give it to him. He studies it and his eyes widen. He looks a bit panicked.

“John, I can’t wear this!” he protests, sounding scared instead of angry or offended.

“Why not? It’s not like your blood color matters to anyone. You know we humans have it the same color, right?” you try to persuade him. He looks at the shirt again and seems to try processing the situation.

“B-but I…” He stutters. “Why did you go through all that trouble? Aren’t you busy saving our asses?”

“Hey, I have all the time in the world!” you laugh. “And I _had_ to give you _something.”_

“But I have nothing to give to you!”

“That’s alright!”

You both stand there in silence for a while. “Um… Thanks, John… For the shirt. I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the courage to wear it, though,” Karkat speaks up.

“That’s okay. All that matters to me is that you like it. I promise that I will shower you with _way_ more awesome stuff after we’ve defeated _Sburb!”_

Karkat smiles a bit at your optimism. “Well then, uh… I’ll do the same to you. _If_ I won’t die before I’m able to do that,” he says awkwardly and you smile brightly.

“Don’t worry man. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you _or_ anyone else,” you assure him. You think it’s about time you leave now.

“But now I must go back. Back to the future!” you exclaim. And almost instantly you start giggling. Karkat lifts an eyebrow. “I just quoted a movie,” you explain.

Karkat laughs a bit. “You’re such a dork,” he snorts.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” you laugh. “But yeah, I _really_ should get going now. Can you try to pretend I was never here? Because dude, I don’t want you worrying or doing something you were not supposed to do, alright?” you tell him and attempt to be stern.

“I’ll try,” he says. “Now get out of my meteor, asshat.”

You laugh and in a flash you’re gone.

**== >**

You have successfully returned to your time and to your delight you notice Karkat wearing a familiar shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John is the dorkiest dork that ever dorked. This is a fact.  
> He is the King of Dorkiness and Karkat is his Queen. Or co-King, whichever you prefer.  
> And I bet everyone recognized which movie John quoted. I just _had to_ alright? If you don't put that quote into a thing that involves time traveling, that is one _huge_ wasted opportunity.  
>  And oh man I can't believe next chapter's going to be the last. Time sure does fly am I right? (Well at least Aradia and Dave do)  
> See you next chapter! c:


	7. Okay, Maybe Fated Love Does Exist After All.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John comes face to face with a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! We are finally at the Finale, which also happens to be the longest chapter of this fic! It's kinda weird how it's the last chapter already, since it feels like just yesterday I posted the first chapter.  
> I'd like to thank all of you for reading _It Was Probably Fate_ and digging it! This was my first multi-chapter fiction and I wasn't too sure about how this was going to play out at first!  
>  Also I am sorry it took me almost a month to write this. I was suddenly hit by art mode and I managed to actually draw how the boys look like in this, which I posted on my Tumblr. (http://roseastheomnipotent.tumblr.com/post/117292410015/okay-so-these-are-what-karkat-john-dave-dave) (I will draw the girls too, eventually so stay tuned on that!)  
> Also another problem I faced was that I was getting second thoughts on the ending and ended up changing it a bit. Nothing too serious though, so don't worry!

John rolled around in anguish on his bed, suffering from a terrible nightmare. He dripped with cold sweat, his breathing came in quick pants and his heart beat fast. His mind was filled with pictures and voices; things he almost remembered but couldn’t at the same time.

A game. His friends. Death. Weird gray people. More death. Destruction. Fighting.

A face.

Crimson eyes. Crimson tears. A familiar voice.

_Karkat?_

John shot up with a scream. He breathed heavily as he tried to process what just had happened. _It was all a dream?_

“John!” Jane burst into his room and sat beside him. Her face was contorted with worry. “Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare? _Oh my god are you crying? John it’s all right, don’t cry!”_ she gasped and pulled him into a hug. John sobbed onto her shoulder.

“Is John alright?” John heard Dad ask worriedly as he walked into the room.

“He is. He’s just really upset,” Jane told him. “John, everything is fine. You are safe. It was all a bad dream…” she proceeded to soothe John.

After a while John pulled out of his sister’s embrace. She looked at him with concern and asked, “What happened, John?”

“N- Nothing, really… I just had a bad dream,” John tried to reassure her while wiping his eyes. Cyan met sky blue as Jane attempted to read his expression.

“You want to tell me something about it?”

“I don’t really wanna think about it too much. Lots of people… died…”

John dropped his gaze onto his hands which were held by Jane’s. Jane nodded quietly in understanding and John was relieved she didn’t press it further. “John. If you have another nightmare or if you have trouble sleeping, come wake me up, okay? Or if you want to talk to me about something that’s on your mind, I’m all ears for that, too. You _know_ I’m there if you need me, right?” she told him, and it was his turn to nod.

“You can come talk to me too, son. Don’t forget that,” Dad quipped.

“Thanks,” John said with a small smile. “Now get out, I want to continue sleeping, please!”

Jane stood up. “Geez Louise, where are your manners, dear boy?” she snorted.

“I said _please!”_ John laughed and slipped back under his covers.

Dad and Jane both laughed as well. Dad was quick to leave with a “good night son,” while Jane stayed to stand at the door frame. She turned off the lights and grabbed the doorknob.

“Now remember: if anything comes up, _wake me._ I won’t care if it’s one, two or even flipping _four_ A.M. You are more important to me than all the sleep in the world.”

“I get it,” John said. “You are important to me too.”

“Good night, John!”

“G’night, Jane!”

Jane shut the door as she left, and in the silence John could hear her footsteps while she walked towards her own room, which was not too far from his.

John laid awake on his bed and tried to process what he had been dreaming about and why it felt so familiar. His thoughts were on those enchanting crimson eyes sooner than he could have imagined and suddenly he was hit with a familiar feeling.

Memories came crashing down as a waterfall, overwhelming him with thoughts from the past.

He remembered how he used to see the same dreams as a child; how he often woke up wailing and had to be comforted for many minutes, sometimes even hours. He used to tell both his dad and Jane about the dreams he had. They had both been so concerned of his dreams because of their gory details. He remembered how he stopped telling about those dreams when he had realized how much anxiety and worry over him it brought them.

John also remembered how he had grown to understand his feelings toward a certain figment of his imagination. He remembered the humiliation that overcame him from that realization. He had desperately tried to stop seeing those dreams and pretend they never existed. He remembered how he struggled to ignore his feelings and instead have a crush a _real,_ living human being.

He had tried to ignore those dreams for a long time, and eventually they ceased invading his conscious, leaving him to forget everything about them.

But why did they come back now? Did they ever even leave? What if he never _stopped_ seeing them, but always forgot about them when he woke up? Did he _have_ that kind of willpower?

John sighed. He couldn’t stay up wondering about these things. Not right now.

He closed his eyes again, soon drifting back to sleep.

* * *

Spring break was over quicker than John would have wanted, but there was nothing he could do.

He woke up to the sound of his bedroom door slamming open. “Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey~!” his sister sang loudly. She had always been an early bird and John was a bit envious of that.

“I’m awake already! Your clamor would wake up the dead!” he complained.

“Now, now, don’t be a sourpuss! Dad and I have made lovely breakfast so the least you could do is come and eat it with us, Starshine!” Jane retorted.

“Five more minutes,” John groggily declared and attempted to continue sleeping but Jane wasn’t taking it.

She stomped over to John’s bed and started shaking the young man. “Come _on,_ John! At this rate you’ll be late for school!” she groaned. “How am I ever able to go back to college when I have to constantly make sure you won’t just stay in bed all day?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’d do without you, sis,” John joked.

“I swear, sometimes it feels like I’m your mother,” Jane sighed.

John looked at her dead in the eye. “Maybe you are,” he said with a straight face.

They both stared at each other until they burst out laughing. “Well, as your mother I have the right to tell you, John, to get your ass in the kitchen and have breakfast with your father and I,” Jane proclaimed.

“You’re the boss, Miss Egbert,” John chuckled as he sat up.

“Damn right I am,” Jane exclaimed with a giggle.

They walked downstairs together and, as always, Dad was waiting in the kitchen, reading a newspaper.

“Good morning, son, daughter,” he said pleasantly.

“Morning,” was John’s response.

“Good morning, Dad,” Jane answered. “Although we have already exchanged good morning sentiments,” she added with a smile.

John was quick to inhale his breakfast despite being wary at first, because in his house you never knew when you were going to be the victim of a prank. He even checked if the apple he had had any suspicious holes in it. He had been doing this for months ever since… ever since the day Karkat came to his school.

John was suddenly struck with a huge yearning to meet Karkat again, so he practically jumped off the kitchen table to grab his things.

“Son, you aren’t in a hurry. The bus isn’t going to come for another twenty minutes,” Dad pointed out.

“I’ll just walk to school! It isn’t a long distance!” John called out and rushed outside, running to his school, unaware of the knowing glances Dad and Jane exchanged.

It wasn’t a long walk, especially when John ran all the way. For some reason he had the energy for it, albeit he never ran long distances and expected himself to be in bad shape. His grade for P.E. wasn’t anything to brag about, either. His legs only failed once he arrived to his school’s gate. He leaned on the gate’s wall and panted.

“…Well, this is an interesting sight.”

John didn’t need to turn around to see who it was. “What a proper way to greet people, Karkat,” he snorted.

“Why the _fuck_ are you so exhausted? You look almost ill,” Karkat remarked.

“Nothing much, just ran all the way to school,” John stated.

“Are you fucking serious.”

“Yes.”

“Why the hell would you do that to yourself?”

“Because I wanted to prove myself I’m better than people think! Or something like that.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying that bullshit.”

John laughed and glanced at Karkat, but started staring at the boy’s shirt. It was a black sweater with a crimson Cancer-sign. He must have seen it somewhere before, he swore he had.

“Have you worn that shirt before?” he found himself ask the crimson-eyed boy.

Karkat glanced down at his shirt and back at John. “Uhh, no? The last time I wore this was around a week _before_ moving to Maple Valley. It’s actually kind of strange I haven’t been wearing this in months, since it’s my favorite shirt,” he told the taller boy.

“Oh. I thought I’ve seen it somewhere before,” John mumbled.

For some reason Karkat swiftly had a sort of hopeful look on his face. “Really?” he asked in disbelief.

“I- I could also be imagining things. If you haven’t worn that shirt in my company before, then I must’ve never seen it in my life,” John stuttered. Some type of weird warm feeling settled down in his gut and his vision went hazy. He rubbed his eyes and the next moment he looked at his short friend, they widened greatly.

Karkat. Had. Horns.

And his skin was gray.

Oh no. _Oh no. What the fuck._

The school bell rang, and John had never been so happy to hear it in his life. “Welp, gotta run. Since I have classes and stuff. Ha ha ha. Later Karkat!” he said awkwardly and absconded, almost tripping because his legs hadn’t quite started working yet. He caught a final glimpse of Karkat, who looked normal again, and did not miss the hurt look in his eyes, though the boy seemed mostly confused.

The day went on and John did not stop seeing the weird illusion his subconscious projected on Karkat. It usually lasted only a few seconds, but even that was enough to drive him crazy. _What the hell was going on? What was wrong with him?_

It did not help that John found the delusion oddly familiar.

He tried to ignore it, he really did. But if he talked to Karkat for too long his head started hammering and he had to flee. John did not like it at all. He had been looking forward to talking to Karkat again, and now he couldn’t? This was such _bullshit!_

For about the zillionth time that day, John was in the school’s bathroom and threw cold water at his face. He tried to clear up his thoughts with questions.

 _What was going on with him?_ Probably _the nightmare_ had something to do with it. Or could it be sleep deprivation? No, no. John got more than enough sleep thanks to Dad and Jane.

 _What was up with Karkat?_ He suddenly seemed so weirdly familiar it hurt John’s head.

 _How did he feel?_ Terrible. Like there was a rock on his heart, squishing and squishing the organ under its weight like he had some unfinished business with Karkat. But what was it? _Why couldn’t he figure it out?_

Whenever John was near Karkat, his brain seemed to malfunction and he couldn’t comprehend anything. He let out a long, heavy sigh.  From this point forward, he would stay away from Karkat for a while so he could figure out what was going on.

John determinately opened the bathroom door and the first person he saw was Karkat. _Shit._

“John, are you alright? You’ve been acting weird the whole day. Or well, more weird than usual.”

John’s throat went dry and his head started throbbing. _Don’t say anything weird or I’ll swear to God._

“What, me? I’m fine. Absolutely fine. Yup. Never felt better!” he said with as much enthusiasm as he could, but it turned out as a really fucking awkward squawk. John swore he was the worst actor when it came to Karkat. He realized he acted similar to a 12-year-old with their first crush. “By the way I like your eyes!” he blurted out, and was stuck with instant regret when Karkat’s eyebrows shot up and the boy seemed to be wondering if he had heard John right. John’s face went red and he internally cursed himself for losing focus. “I mean… Shit. I’ve gotta go,” he quickly added and ran away, this time not even looking behind.

Okay, from _this_ point forward he’d stay as far from Karkat as possible.

* * *

 It appeared staying as far from Karkat as possible didn’t turn out to be very easy. They shared most of their classes and John always managed to wander to where Karkat was. Not to mention that Karkat tried to approach John quite often. He was running out of excuses to abscond. Who knew all the believable excuses could run out in a week?

 _Calm down,_ John told himself. He just had to hurry up to his locker and then go home. Hopefully Karkat had already left. Back home he would figure out how to stop this weirdness and then everything would go back to normal.

The realistic part of his brain stated that it was highly unlikely. He had been trying to figure it out for a _week_ and nothing had ever come out of it so why would his luck suddenly change? The optimistic part of John’s brain, however, told him to not lose hope. Like always, he decided to listen to his optimistic side.

John shuffled tiredly to his locker. He had had nightmares every night for the entire week and the lack of sleep was taking its toll on him. He opened his locker door and put his books in it. _There. Now he had to hurry home._

Right when he was about to close the locker door, someone slammed their hands on the lockers on John’s both sides, trapping him between them. John was caught off guard and nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around to look at the person behind him, who turned out to be no other than Karkat, and wow did he look _pissed._

Of course John had seen Karkat angry before several times, but never this enraged. Not to mention, that usually Karkat’s angry tirades and overall crossness was entertaining, while this piercing glare and the raging fire in his red eyes was nothing but intimidating.

“John. We need to talk,” he hissed.

John looked around and was slightly relieved no one was in the halls. The last thing he needed was someone laughing at their suggestive position.

“M- Maybe later? I kinda need to go…”

 _“Now,_ John.”

John whimpered a bit, but gave in. Karkat was clearly not letting him go anywhere.

The shorter boy grabbed his hand, murmuring a “let’s go” and pulled John with him. They walked out of the school building and kept walking until they were in a remote area where nobody would see or hear them.

Karkat turned around to face John and his expression was now more stern than angry.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

A lump caught in John’s throat.

“N- No I haven’t!” he croaked.

Karkat’s eyes were still on John and he stared at the taller boy intensely. He was not convinced, that was certain. After a moment tears started building up in the short boy’s crimson eyes.

“Bullshit! Do you seriously think I don’t recognize when people are _fed up with me!?”_ Karkat cried out with what seemed to be months and months of built up frustration and sadness. _“After all, almost everyone I ever cared about has left me without fucking saying goodbye!”_

John was hit by realization with the force of a nuke bomb. To think that he, who had always been determined to stick by Karkat and had always resented the boy’s asshole friends who left without a word, would actually find himself to be among those assholes. He had hurt Karkat. _He had hurt Karkat even though he had always tried so hard not to._

“Karkat, I…”

“I’ve lost so many people… Just. Just please don’t end it like this. I understand that you don’t want to be my friend anymore! _Just please, honest to God, say it to my face!_ You’re practically my best friend and I care about you too much to see you drifting away as well without even so much as a fucking farewell! _Say it’s over and I promise to leave you alone for good!”_ Karkat yelled and it was clear he was trying so hard to not just break down in front of John.

John was almost at the point of crying himself and he could feel his chest tightening, his heart racing and his head throbbing with pain. A distant cry, which sounded exactly like Karkat, rang in his ears.

_“John! John, you can’t fucking die now! John wake up! WAKE UP! John, you told me you had this! You promised to make it out alive! Fuck, John! What about your friends? WHAT ABOUT OUR PROMISE, JOHN? DON’T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! I never even got to say goodbye… Please wake up. We need you.”_

John snapped back to the present moment and was quick to grab Karkat’s both hands in his, making the shorter boy turn red in the face.

“Karkat, I don’t want to stop being friends with you.”

Karkat had closed his eyes in nervous anticipation and it seemed John’s response caught him a bit off guard, as he slowly opened his eyes and stared at John in confusion. “But—“

“Karkat, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that I haven’t been really myself lately. I’ve had a lot on my mind for the past week.”

“Oh God, please don’t tell me someone from your family is dying, because I swear, I’m going to feel like such a tool for being mad at you—“

“No, nothing like that has happened!” John reassured. He sighed and sat down on the ground, staring into the distance. “I doubt you’d believe me if I told you.”

Karkat sat down next to him, and peered at the taller boy. “Try me,” he said, not taking his eyes off John.

John glanced at Karkat and sighed again. “I’ve been having… nightmares,” he said quietly.

“…What kind of nightmares?”

“Really strange ones, and they’ve been the same ever since my birthday. This is all gonna sound really crazy, but there’s basically a game… and a lot of people I know and some I don’t know, die. Some even more than once,” John started. “And when I came to school, I sometimes saw you as a… I don’t know, a grey person with horns? A demon? I have no idea. And like, I’ve been really scared and confused because I don’t know what any of that means or if it actually happened at a point?” he continued.

“John, that’s—“

“And even though those dreams have been in my mind the entire week, I only _just_ realized I love you.

“…You _what?”_

“I love you. And I probably have for a long time now. But I… never realized until now.”

Karkat went completely silent and started staring at the ground. “You’re not pulling my leg are you?” he asked silently, his voice wavering. “This isn’t any kind of prank?”

“Fake confessions aren’t funny, Karkat. Pranks are _supposed_ to be funny. That’s the _point_ of pranking.”

Tears started rolling down Karkat’s pale cheeks. “I- I can’t believe it… I always thought something was wrong with me, that I had a really fucked up mind that came up with these weird dreams and coincidences. I thought it was always just me…” he mumbled while wiping his eyes. “And now you’ve been having the same dreams too? And you love me back? It all sounds too good to be true.”

John blinked. “Wait, you’ve been having them too?”

“As long as I can remember.”

It all made sense. It explained why Karkat had often come to school looking like he’d never even heard of sleep, and why he always stared at everything John did or owned. It explained his artwork and his weird suggestions. It explained so much and _wait a minute._

“Did you just say something about me loving you back? You love me, Karkat?” John inquired, his eyes twinkling with hope.

“…Yes, you cunt blister. I’ve loved you ever since I was like, twelve, although I had never actually _met_ you back then.”

“Damn. Holy shit. Does this mean we’re like, made for each other?”

Karkat just shrugged. The situation was turning a bit awkward, so John decided to do the only thing he could at that point. Break into song.

_“Do you believe in destiny? Close your eyes and leave the rest to me.”_

“Are you seriously singing Steven Universe to me?”

_“Do you believe in fantasy?”_

At this point Karkat let out a noise that was both a sigh and a chuckle, and he joined in:

**_“I have to when it’s right in front of me, oh…”_ **

**_“What are you doing here?”_ **

**_“In the real world?”_ **

**_“What are you doing here?”_ **

**_“So close I could touch you…”_ **

**_“What are you doing here?”_ **

**_“And what are you doing to MEEEE?”_ **

They both then shared a very dorky laugh.

“You actually sang Steven fucking Universe to me.”

“Yeah, so? That show is great and its songs are great.”

“I know. It’s a fucking treasure compared to the other shit on Cartoon Network.”

“So I guess you could say… It’s a real _gem?”_ John replied with a giggle and Karkat let out a snort.

“Come here you!” he exclaimed and squished John’s face between his petite hands, landing a kiss on the sky-eyed boy’s lips.

It was the first kiss John had got physically, and it sure as hell felt like it and _more._ His headache was completely gone, his cheeks felt warm and there were about a million butterflies fluttering in his stomach. And it was the best thing he had ever experienced. Also, Karkat was a _remarkably_ good kisser.

10000/10 would kiss again.

“That was my first kiss…” John mumbled, still not really sure if all of this was real.

“Mine too.” Karkat said shyly and his cheeks were slightly rosy.

They both just sat and smiled at each other, until they began to make out. John was sure that this was all he had ever hoped for in his life.

He didn’t care if he was technically bisexual now. The only thing that mattered to him was that he was Karkatromantic, and that it was never going to change. Not ever.

After they both stopped kissing each other, they just sat in silence, hugging each other close. They were like two halves of a whole, finally reunited once again.

“Hey, Karkat.”

“Mmh?”

“Remember our first conversation, like, from your perspective? In the dreams, I mean.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. It was so fucking embarrassing.”

“Well yeah. But it was also kind of funny. How you were trying to be all high and mighty, like a god.”

“Oh you mean with the whole _‘ATTENTION WORTHLESS HUMAN’_ and all that?”

“Exactly.”

Karkat chuckled and he turned to look John straight in the eye.

“There are no miracles in store for you, _human._ Only my love. It is a love so pure and hot it would consume your sad underdeveloped human think pan to even contemplate.”

“I am surprisingly okay with that.”

Karkat sighed heartily. “How did I ever manage to discover you?”

“I dunno,” John shrugged. “It was probably fate.”

* * *

“Welp, looks like this is my stop,” John mused as he and Karkat arrived to his house.

“See you later, John,” Karkat said.

“Later, Karkat,” John said and gave his short boyfriend a peck on the lips. “I’ll see ya tomorrow!” he exclaimed cheerfully and walked towards the house’s door, watching Karkat walk away.

He smiled to himself and went inside. “I’m home!” he yelled.

“Oh, hello, son! Dinner will be ready soon!” his Dad hollered from the kitchen.

“Got it!” he said to his Dad and walked upstairs to his room, opening his computer the minute he got to it.

He and Karkat had been dating about a few weeks and John thought it was about time he told his friends. He wasn’t scared if they were going to accept him, as Rose was dating a girl and they had all still stuck together without any problems. He just hadn’t thought he should tell them just yet.

He opened up a memo on Pesterchum.

EB: hi guys!  
TG: sup  
GG: hey! :D  
TT: Greetings.  
EB: how have things been going with you guys?  
TT: Just fine, thank you.  
GG: oh things have been great! jake visited me quite recently  
GG: it was fun to see him again! :)  
TG: meh p much the same shit as always  
TG: is there a particular reason you opened up a memo btw  
TG: or did you just decide “i wanna talk to all my friends together because yay friendship”  
EB: well i did have some news  
EB: but i also wanted to just talk to you guys  
TG: shit what news  
TG: come on shoot don’t leave me waiting in suspense  
GG: yeah! tell us, john!  
TT: I admit I am quite intrigued.  
EB: well i just wanted you guys to know that karkat and i are dating  
GG: !!!!  
GG: congratulations john!!! c:  
TG: alright finally  
TG: guys lets do it like we rehearsed  
TG: its ok to be gay  
GG: let’s rejoice with the boys! :D  
TT: In the gay way.  
TG: hooray for the kind of man that you will find in the gay way  
EB: oh my god guys  
EB: i’m not gay  
TG: egbert you just told us you are dating a guy  
TG: or is karkat secretly a chick  
TG: that would actually explain a lot  
EB: no, karkat is not a girl!  
EB: and i meant that i‘m bi  
EB: which is another thing entirely  
TT: Yes, Dave. You need to step up your game.  
TG: jeez sorry  
TG: do i need to publicly announce how deeply sorry i am for making the mistake of assuming my best bro was gay  
EB: nah that’s alright  
TG: anyway congrats on finally hooking up with someone  
TT: I, too, give you my cheers.  
TT: Let’s hope fate has good plans for you two.  
EB: i have a feeling we’re going to be just great

* * *

Karkat arrived home and walked up into his room.

For the first time in a long time he was honestly happy.

He finally experienced what all of the protagonists in his romcoms did.

Oh, but this romance he had was even better than any of his romcoms! It wasn’t perfect but it was real, and hopefully would last a lifetime. John was the best thing that ever happened to him, and Karkat was grateful for the joy the boy brought him.

He absent-mindedly opened up his computer and his eyes widened.

All of the chumhandles on Pesterchum were showing his friends were online and he had a shitload of new messages.

GC: H33Y GU3SS WHO GOT TH31R L4PTOP FIXED! >;]

GA: Karkat I Am Happy To Announce I Have Finally Managed To Fix The Problem I Had With My Pesterchum  
GA: Now We Can Communicate Again

TC: hola bro  
TC: sorry i haven’t talked to you in like mother fucking forever  
TC: i’ve been in rehabilitation the past few years  
TC: and dude you were right i shoulda never touched those mother fucking drugs  
TC: they were poison and i’m real mother fucking sorry for not listening to you  
TC: i was hoping we could like patch things up and maybe be best friends again

AC: :33< hey karkitty!  
AC: :33< i want to apawlogize fur not being on pesterchum  
AC: :33< s33 I was beat up a few years ago by these tall buff guys who were like a gang or something  
AC: :33< i could’ve taken them easy but they had hockey sticks!!  
AC: :33< some people are just pawsitively nuts!  
AC: :33< and i’ve b33n going in and out on diffurrent hospitals  
AC: :33< and then we moved at one point  
AC: :33< tl;dr I have been really busy!  
AC: :33< anyway how has your life b33n?  
AC: :33< message me when meow are able!

AG: Heeeeeeeey Karkat!  
AG: Just so you know, I’ve 8een pretty 8usy here.  
AG: You don’t even want to hear the det8ls!  
AG: So many irons in the fire and all that!!!!!!!!  
AG: How has it 8een on your end, m8? ::::)

AA: k0nnichiwa, karkat! 0u0  
AA: i am sorry you haven’t heard fr0m me in a while!  
AA: my m0ther passed away a few years ag0 and I had a really hard time getting 0ver it  
AA: i didn’t even attend sch00l  
AA: but en0ugh ab0ut my life  
AA: what s0rt of events have been happening there? 0u0

AT: uHH,,, hEY kARKAT,  
AT: gAMZEE HAS PROBABLY ALREADY TOLD YOU, wHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON WITH HIM,,,  
AT: aND UH, mY DAD WANTED TO HELP HIS DAD,  
AT: aND WE’VE BASICALLY BEEN TRYING TO HELP THEM GET THROUGH THE HARD TIMES THEY WERE HAVING,  
AT: tHAT’S WHY, i HAVEN’T BEEN TALKING TO YOU,  
AT: sO UH, i HAVEN’T BEEN AVOIDING YOU, jUST SO YOU KNOW,

CA: hey there kar  
CA: i don’t knoww if you’re happy at all to hear from me  
CA: but I just wwant to tell you that fef has been havvin some regal duties  
CA: since she is a princess and all  
CA: an I havve tried to help her out  
CA: so i wwas really busy an that is wwhy I havven’t talked to you in a long time  
CA: an i missed you a lot kar  
CA: so if you wwant to  
CA: you could maybe leavve a message

CC: S)(---ELLO KRABCAKES!!! 38D  
CC: I )(ave had some things going on because of my royal status  
CC: It S)(OR---E is a great amount of work!!  
CC: So I am reely sorry I )(ave not talked to you!  
CC: Please message me w)(en you can! I want to )(ear from you!

CT: D--> Greetings, Vantas.  
CT: D--> I have been rather occupied with quite many things.  
CT: D--> Many of them involving my STRENGTH  
CT: D--> And therefore I have not initiated conversations.  
CT: D--> I order you to forgive me, please.

Karkat stared at his monitor in awe. Seeing so many familiar quirks was stirring some sort of feeling inside him. Was it longing? Nostalgia? Karkat wasn’t sure, but it was a good feeling. He noticed all of the messages had been sent around 10 to 20 minutes ago.

Before he was able to reply to any of them, he got another message.

TA: 2up  
TA: ii have been really bu2y wiith schoolwork because there’2 liike a 2hiitload of that  
TA: you’ve probably heard all of thii2 from TZ already  
TA: anyway before you reply two any of tho2e me22age2 you’ve 2uppo2edly got  
TA: ii’m goiing two save you the trouble and have iin2tead opened up a memo  
TA: that way we can all catch up wiith each other fa2ter and ea2iier  
TA: everyone’2 already there 2o you don’t need two worry about that eiither  
TA: ju2t joiin u2 you piiece of 2hiit and let’2 all have a real fuckiing good tiime

Karkat wiped the tears that formed in his eyes and smiled broadly.

CG: ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT YOU COCKBITING NOODLE-ARM.  
CG: I’LL HUMOR YOU AND JOIN THE FUCKING MEMO.  
CG: WHICH I WILL NOT ENJOY I ASSURE YOU OF THAT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes the thrilling story of _It Was Probably Fate,_ but I have thought on making this a series, because I love this so much and I have a few ideas for potential oneshots. (I doubt there will be any more multi-chapter ones)  
>  I'd like to apologize that the drama was almost non-existent, but I can't make drama happen because my heart can't take it TnT  
> Anyways, if you liked this story, be sure to leave a comment to let me know how what you think! I love comments! Critique is also much welcome as long as you are polite about it! uwu


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